DWARF LEPIDOPTERA. 89 



'(Sicily), whose first generation was well figured by Hiibner under the 

 nsbmeoisphyrus, and whose second and third, similar to each other, were 

 . accurately described by Zeller in 1847 and named aeMivHs. Less far 

 south one meets in the greater part of Southern Europe with a tri- 

 generate race or group of races, which are transitional between bi- 

 generata and sphyrus in both spring and summer. The first brood is 

 larger, brighter, of a deeper yellow and with a more extensive black 

 pattern than that of bigenerata, but far from so extensive as in sphyrus ; 

 the second and third are on the whole similar to aestivii.'i from Sicily, 

 but never so large as the extreme individuals of the latter and they 

 never produce the forms anyulata, Vrty., and zandemoideH, Rag., 

 which occur in Sicily ; I propose the name of endsphyriis for this race, 

 more generally distributed in the south of Europe, taking as typical 

 form the first brood of Florence. 



(To be continued.) 



Dwarf Lepidoptera. {With one plate.) 



By the Rev. C. R. N. BURROWS, F.E.S. 



A little time ago Mr. A. A. W. Buckstone submitted to me some 

 very tiny specimens of Agriades coridon which he had taken upon a 

 hilltop in Surrey. These insects were captured in July, 1917, and 

 ■were exhibited at the meeting of the South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society on October 11th of the same year. 



I was very pleased to have these specimens, as they promised to 

 'help me to answer a question which had forced itself upon me. in the 

 ■ course of my investigations of the genitalia of the Psychidae. In that 

 group, and more or less elsewhere, the point has had to be decided as 

 to how far size and development may vary in a single species, and 

 how far the size of the genitalia agrees with the size of the insects to 

 which they belong. 



I therefore made preparations of males of these specimens, and com- 

 , pared them with preparations of the normal sized ones. I did the same 

 with two other species, extremely small specimens of which were to 

 hand. I now present the result of my examination. The drawings 

 profess to be merely outlines, but are all made to exactly the same 

 scale. I have left out the spines and hairs as likely to confuse the 

 matter. The normal sized insects are figured to the right of the 

 Plate, the dwarfs to the left. I quote the average size of normal 

 specimens from Meyrick's " Handbook" : — • 



Vanessa io 58-68 mm. The dwarf measures about 47 mm. 



Agriades coridon 30-37 mm. The dwarf from the hilltop measures 

 25 mm. 



Mr. Buckstone found a rather better developed form at the 

 bottom of the same hill, and adds in his letter to me : " Besides 

 these, full-sized coridon occurs generally over the entire slope, ^ 

 but appears later than the smaller forms, and may be found 

 when the other two forms are over." My specimen measures 

 about 28 mm. and is figured in the centre of the Plate. (Plate iv.) 



Abraxas grossidariata 36-43 mm. The dwarf measures about 

 30 mm. 



My dwarf specimens are therefore well below the minima given by 

 Meyrick. Now, do the genitalia exhibit the same difference in size 



