LIFE-HISTORIES OF HESPERIA TES8ELLUM AND H. CRIBRELLUM. 7 



Museum, are interesting. They tend towards the intermediate 

 condition, the spots, especially c, d, e, being smaller and the 

 legs darker than in the typical form. 



Finally, a female taken by myself at Christiansand, Norway 

 (June 17th), may be mentioned. Although very young and the 

 iufuscation of the yellow on the femora only slight, the nigri- 

 femur characters hold good in respect of spots a, b, c, d, b being 

 all well separated, the fuscous outline of the middle field being 

 heavily marked, the diagonal line being also broad and well 

 defined. Hind -wing 27 mm. 



The distribution of Sympetrum striolatum in Scotland has 

 been fully and carefully worked out by Mr. Evans {" Odonata of 

 the Forth Area," Proc. Eoy. Physical Soc, xvi. pp. 87-96, 

 1905, and 'Annals Scot. Nat. Hist.,' 1911, pp. 14-25). It seems 

 worthy of notice that, while the species apparently occurs all 

 along the western seaboard of Scotland, including at least the 

 larger islands, it is found rarely in the east of Scotland, and 

 almost certainly does not breed there. Further, I am inclined 

 to believe that the ordinary northern limit of S. striolatum as a 

 British breeding species on the east coast must be drawn con- 

 siderably south of the Scottish border, probably about the 

 Humber, but further observations are required to verify this. 

 Mr. Porritt says that he has no doubt that the species breeds 

 regularly in the low-lying lands at Askern and probably all over 

 that (the Doncaster) district, but not in the hilly districts of the 

 county, i. e. north, north-east, east, and most of the south-west, 

 although it seems to occur sporadically in most parts of the 

 county. He also thinks it may breed in the Hull and Goole 

 district, although he has never seen it there. 



Ireland and the west of Scotland have in common a com- 

 paratively mild and moist winter climate, and this condition 

 may not only render possible the existence of S. striolatum in 

 the west and north, while it fails on the east coast of our country, 

 but also account for its melanic tendencies. Very likely these 

 tendencies vary from season to season, and no doubt the influx 

 of migrants from other areas has something to do with the 

 presence of intermediates. 



13, Blackford Road, Edinburgh : November, 1913. 



NOTES ON THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF HESPERIA 

 TESSELLUM AND H. CRIBRELLUM. 



By the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, M.A., F.E.S. 



Herrn Hermann Rangnow, when recently collecting in the 

 Ural Mountains, was fortunate enough to discover the larvae and 

 food-plants of the above-named insects, and has permitted me to 

 record his observations in this Journal. 



