VARIATION OF EPUNDA LUTULENTA. 157 



form of many of the above ubevrations, r.<i., there is no ab. sfdi, but 

 there is a reddish -brown form with dark central band, and so on. I 

 took altogether about 130 specimens. Some I rejected, a very few I 

 allowed great friends to take away with them, but I set out, and have 

 now before me, 99 individuals. The greater number must be referred 

 to the type — 53 specimens. In these there is a great deal of minor 

 variation to be observed in the colour and distinctness of the central 

 band, and the transverse lines, as well as in the outlines of the stigmata. 



After these come a considerable number, 34 (18 males and 16 

 females), of what may be called the extreme form of the type, and 

 which, indeed, appear to be hinted at by Borkhausen in his original 

 description. In this form the reddish or brownish-black of the type 

 prevails, but there is scarcely a trace of transverse lines, central band 

 or spots. For this form I would suggest the name ab. itnivahir, n. ab. 



At the other extreme are three specimens with the ashy- grey of 

 Stephens' ab. C(>nsi)iiilis, but with distinctly marked central band 

 slightly darker, making the stigmata more distinct, and, though so 

 much larger, recalling Epiimhi rijiiinalis. These three are all females, 

 but one has the white hind-wings, usually characteristic of the male, 

 only slightly shaded with grey on the outer margin. The others have 

 the ordinary grey hind-wings. This I would call ab. cinerea, n. ab. 



Parallel with ab. sedi, Gn., but not s.edi, owing to the contrast 

 between the central band and the grey outer margin being less marked, 

 is another form. The males Avith a blackish-fuscous central band, 

 with the outer and inner margins cinereous-grey, of the same tint as 

 ab. cinerea, the females with the band marked off from the outer and 

 basal area by a pale margin on either side, but the outer and basal 

 areas only a little paler than the central area. As this form approaches 

 ab. sedi, Gn., I would call it ab. approximeita, n. ab. Of this I have 

 5 specimens— 2 males, 3 females. 



Lastly, there remain two males and two females, of a distinct black 

 ground colour, with the fuscous scarcely showing. The males with 

 the black dots upon the nervures of, and the females with dark blackish- 

 grey, hind-wings. These Mr. Tutt feels certain should be referred to 

 ab. Umebuniensis. They are most certainly, he assures me, the 

 nearest specimens to this form that he has known to be taken in our 

 south-eastern counties. 



The sexual dimorphism of the Mucking specimens is well worth 

 noting. The hind-wings of the males, white, and of the females, grey, 

 the latter varying from white with a grey margin to very dark blackish- 

 grey. The black dots on the nervures of the hind-wings present in 

 the Irish and Scotch aberrations, very rarely present. 



I will only further note that Borkhausen's suggestion that the 

 reddish-ochreous tint is only seen in fresh specimens is somewhat 

 erroneous, for the three poor specimens that represented my series 

 until last autumn are of the reddest, and are, I should imagine, more 

 than twenty years old. 



I have found it extremely difficult to judge the colour of the 

 specimens by lamp light, when the red or brown tones disappear, and 

 the insects become almost black. I have, of course, been careful to 

 examine those described above by daylight. 



I do not find the central band peculiar to, or even more common 

 in, the females than in the males, as Newman says they arc. 



