1893.] 223 



sides, and three black stripes, moderately wide and indistinct on the hinder part ; 

 post-sutural dorsal setae three in number ; scutellum black ; abdomen small (shorter 

 and narrower than thorax), thin, and flat, with the apex thickened, and furnished 

 beneath with a small tuft of hairs,* the dorsum is marked by a straight black stripe, 

 sometimes indistinct ; alulae white or yellowish ; halteres yellow ; wings with a 

 yellowish tinge, especially at the base ; cross veins rather near together, the outer 

 one being straight, but rather oblique, the third and fourth longitudinal veins 

 parallel ; legs more or less rufous or piceous ; fore femora quite black, and fore tibise 

 only slightly piceous ; middle and hind femora and tibiae all rufous or piceous, with 

 the extremities of the femora, as well as the bases of the tibiae, black ; all the tarsi 

 black ; hind tibiae with some scattered bristles on their outer and front sides, but 

 not on their inner surfaces. 



I have only seen two male examples of this rare and well marked fly, one was 

 captured by Mr. Billups, at Woking, and the other by Mr. A. Beaumont, in Scotland 

 (Pitlochry) ; the legs were much paler in one than the other, but they agreed in all 

 other characters. This species may be distinct from the A. intersecta of Meigen, 

 I have, therefore, given a rather full description. 



Bradford : August hth, 1893. 



ON VARIATION IN VANESSA UUTICM AND EREBTA BLANDINA 



IN SCOTLAND. 



BY KENNETH J. MORTON, F.E.S. 



When I had the opportunity a few months ago of showing Mr. 

 Barrett the few Lepidoptera in my collection, he pointed out that two 

 of my four examples of Vanessa urticod were sufficiently out of the 

 ordinary run to deserve notice. These two insects were reared in the 

 beginning of August, 1892, from larvae gathered in a west of Scotland 

 locality about the end of June, 1892. They are of large size, 58 mm. 

 in expanse, and the deep orange-red ground colour has, in one of the 

 examples, almost entirely taken the place of the yellow blotches on 

 both wings, only a trace of yellow being visible on the costa of the 

 fore-wing ; the other example, although not so extreme, shows a very 

 decided inclination in the same direction. In both examples the two 

 spots on the disc of the fore-wings are rather large. The larvae from 

 which these butterflies were reared were, doubtless, the offspring of 

 hibernated ? s, one brood in ordinary seasons being, I think, the rule 

 in most parts of Scotland. In a season like the present, there may 

 be two broods in the more favoured parts, as at the very beginning of 

 July of this year I found Y. urticcB flying in great abundance at the 

 spot where the above-mentioned larvae were taken, and of a form quite 



* Meigen says that the apex is black and shining, but it was grey in both the examples that 

 I have seeu. 



U2 



