290 i June > 



besides this, the colony was very numerous and nourishing, and I do 

 not think that there were many cripples amongst the imagos which I 

 reared. They sailed happily out of my windows every morning, with 

 the exception of the yellow ones and a few others which exhibited 

 any peculiarity. There were no varieties worth mentioning, except 

 as to size, in which they varied from 1" V" to 1" 7'" across the wings. 



"With regard to the yellow variety, which I have found both at 

 Cambridge and also on some of the downs at "Winchester, it is, as far 

 as my experience goes, generally very uniform in colour and of a pale 

 yellow. I have seen a darker yellow specimen, almost orange, but I 

 have found such intermediate forms very uncommon ; on the other 

 hand, the only specimen of the red variety which had any tendency 

 to yellow was one from Cambridge. The scales on this specimen are 

 seen, with the help of a microscope, to be of a pale brickdust colour, 

 and not so numerous as usual, especially on the hind-wings, which, 

 when viewed with the naked eye, are paler and browner than those of 

 typical specimens. On examining some of the latter from the Cam- 

 bridge chalkpit with a microscope, I find-that most of them have here 

 and there one or two of these light brickdust coloured scales amongst 

 the bright red ones, some more and some less, but I have not been 

 able to see any yellow scales on any red moths, or any red or brickdust 

 scales on any yellow moths. 



It would be interesting to know whether these light brickdust 

 coloured scales occur on red specimens in localities which do not pro- 

 duce the yellow variety (I at present possess none but Cambridge 

 specimens), if I am right in thinking that it is not to be found 

 wherever the insect occurs. Here and at Portland Z.JlUpendulce is 

 fairly common in the red form, but I have not seen a yellow one. I 

 have been told, however, that the yellow variety has occurred on some 

 hills at a short distance from Weymouth, but I have not collected 

 there sufficiently to say anything from personal observation. 



Perhaps some of your correspondents would give their experience 

 of the variations of this insect in other localities. I will try to in- 

 vestigate the matter here this summer. 



Montevideo, near Weymouth : 

 April 10th, 1889. 



[Insects with three wings on one side have been often recorded, 

 but usually the insertion of the supplementary wing is between the 

 two others. We do not recollect a recorded instance of a wing taking 

 the place of a leg. We have seen the specimen. — Eds.]. 



