260 THE entomologist's record. 



English entomologists, who are well acquainted with fraxinata,. 

 Crewe, and it can, no doubt, be immediately settled by rearing the- 

 above species from the egg. If fraxinata is really nothing more than 

 a form of innotata, then ova obtained from females of this form, should 

 feed up on Artemisia and give innotata, Hufn., in the spring. 



I nearly forgot to mention that Staudinger gives fraxinata, Crewe, 

 as the summer brood of imiotata, and Herr Herz also states that this 

 form is more frequent in the summer brood. 



A puzzling group of Eupitheciids. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Mr. Dadd has done good service in writing the above, if the informa- 

 tion contained is all that is known of the subject in Germany. As an ex- 

 pression of ignorance it is really first class. As I understand the matter, 

 Herr Herz (whose Berlin list is really excellent) gets larvfe of Enpithecia 

 innotata regularly on Artemisia. These produce some small specimens 

 with obsolete markings, and these he calls fraxinata. On one occasion 

 he obtained eggs that produced larvfe that he found would feed on 

 Primus padus, these produced small unicolorous specimens from 

 underfeeding, so he" also called these fraxinata, knowing all the time 

 that they were innotata. So far Herr Herz seems to have proved that, 

 in confinement, innotata larvae can be reared on Prunus padus. Herr Herz 

 also bredlarvfe of an Eupithecia from Prunus spinosa, and these produced 

 undersized specimens of a small unicolorous form. These are referred 

 to fraxinata. Why ? Herr Herz does not seem to have a good series 

 of English fraxinata even to get to the extent of satisfactory 

 comparison. 



Mr. Dadd goes on to show that Herz has proved innotata double- 

 brooded, and says that his evidence proves that innotata does not feed 

 only on Artemisia, but "on numerous trees and shrubs — Prunus,. 

 Crataegus, Piosa, Symplioricarpus, and possibly Fraxinus.'" I have an 

 idea that Herz' note shows only that innotata will feed on Prunus padus, 

 and, possibly, if the examples bred from the "beaten" larvae were 

 innotata, on Prunus spinnsa. He thinks this evidence goes towards 

 showing a case for supposing fraxinata to be a form of innotata. As 

 nothing is here said of fraxinata, except the misuse of its name, I do 

 not think it shows anything of the kind. 



Mr. Dadd thinks that the onus rests on British entomologists to 

 disentangle the muddle made in Germany. British entomologists do 

 not unite fraxinata and tamarisciata as vars. of imiotata, they treat 

 them as distinct species. We can prove, so far as their biology in 

 Britain permits, their distinctness; it is for the German entomologists 

 to prove their biologic unity. If there is not more " evidence" than Herr 

 Herz offers, and the remarkable statement of Staudinger that a species 

 that emerges in June, from pupse that have hybernated from Septem- 

 ber to June, is the summer brood of a species that hybernates from 

 September to May, and is only just (or not quite) over when the so- 

 called summer brood appears, I am afraid we cannot get much further 

 by means of the help of our continental colleagues. Our own evidence 

 is not too illuminating or too abundant, but it shines as a sun com- 

 pared with the haze that Mr. Dadd quotes from our friend Herr 

 Herz. 



