130 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



Coccinella 7=punctata. L, ab. divaricata, Oliv. Ent. I. vi. pp. 1001 T 

 1002, No. 21 [1808J. 



By G. B. C. LEMA.N, F.E.S. 



On February 7tb, 1921, Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe showed me a 

 specimen of an aberration of C. 7 -punctata-, L., given to him by Capt. 

 R. Troup, wbo took it in October, 1918, at Taverbam Camp, about 

 5 miles north of JSorwich. In sending Mr. Donisthorpe this aberra- 

 tion, Capt. Troup furnished the following data as to its capture : — 



" Tbe 7-spot ab. was taken on a head of barley growing in a field 

 next our men's lines at Taverham Camp, about 5 miles north of 

 Norwich. There were numerous other quite ordinary specimens along 

 the edge of the field but this was the only aberration I have ever seen 

 of this species. I unfortunately made no note of the date at the time 

 as I was too much engaged in my military duties to trouble much 

 about Coleoptera. ... I am sorry it is not more perfectly set, but I 

 kept the insect all the winter in the hopes of breeding from it in the 

 spring. Although I introduced several ordinary 7-spots, and fed them 

 on blight, which they all ate voraciously, the ab. died in February, 

 and this mishap was not discovered for several days." 



This aberration proves to be ab. divaricata, Olivier, who described 

 it as follows : — 



" 21. Coccinelle divariquee, Coccinella divaricata, pi. 5, fig. 67. 



" C. noir : elytres rouges avec deux raies sinuees, divariquees, et 

 un point noir. 



" C. nigra, elytris rubris vittis duabus sinuatis divaricatis punctoque 

 distincto, nigris. 



" Magnitudo et statura C. septempunctatae. Antennae rufse. Caput 

 nigrum punctis duobus albis. Thorax niger, macula in angulo 

 anteriori alba. Scutellum nigrum. Elytra rubra, in singulo vitta 

 abbreviata, sinuata, obliqua, punctoque quadrangulari versus marginem, 

 nigris. Corpus nigrum. 



"Elle est de la grandeur de la C. sept-points. Les Antennes sont 

 fauves. La tete est noir avec deux points blancs. Le corcelet est noir, 

 avec une tache blanche, de chaque cote, a Tangle anterieur. L'ecusson 

 est noir. Les elytres sont rouges, marquees chacune d'une raie noire, 

 sinuee, oblique, courte, et d'un point, vers le bord exterieur, en losange, 

 pareillement noir. La raie paroit formee de trois taches presque 

 carrees, reunies par un de leur angles. Le dessous du corps est noir. 



" Je l'ai trouve sur des arbres, dans l'ile de Naxos." 



Olivier gives a good coloured figure of his Coccinellid, but it may 

 perhaps be noted that this figure shows the existence on each elytron 

 of a small round red spot in the general upper confluence below the -| 

 spot, near the suture and in a parallel line with the isolated diamond- 

 shaped marginal spot (no. 1), though Olivier makes no reference in his 

 text to these two small red spots. 



Capt. Troup's specimen, however, corresponds with Olivier's figure 

 67 in having these two small red spots. 



I may add that in the general collection at the S. Kensington 

 Museum there are two specimens labelled " C. divaricata," recorded as 

 taken at " Bootan " and " Bertan, N. India, Capt. Pemberton," in 

 which these two red spots are absent. 



For localities for this aberration Mulsant, Spec. p. 112, no. 21 

 (1850), gives :— 



