246 { March, 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF SERICORIS FROM BRITAIN. 
BY C. @. BARRETT. 
Sertcoris DOUBLEDAYANA, sp. 7. 
Top of head and antennz brown, face and palpidrab. Fore-wings short and broad, 
with rounded costa and truncate hind-margin, glossy, pale grey with a reddish 
tinge, markings rich chocolate-brown or umbre-colored. Basal patch distinct, its 
outer edge oblique from near the base of the costa to the sub-costal vein, thence 
nearly perpendicular to the dorsal margin. Central fascia entire, its imner 
margin parallel with the outer edge of the basal patch (the contained pale 
fascia being therefore of equal breadth throughout, and also divided by a deli- 
cate brown line): the outer margin of the central fascia forms two pointed 
projections or teeth, both of which point obliquely upwards. On the dorsal 
margin of the wing, near the anal angle, is an upright, conical spot, and the 
apical portion of the wing is of the same dark colour, cut up into spots by de- 
licate, pale lines proceeding from the usual costal geminations. Hind-wings 
pale grey, paler towards the base. 
Female fully as large as the male, pale silvery-grey, with the markings rich dark 
brown, and the hind-wings dark grey. 
Apparently only variable to a slight extent in colour, the markings exceedingly 
constant and well-defined. 
Allied to cespitana, but distinguished from it by the form of the 
wings, which are short and truncate; while in that species they are 
narrow, with a straighter costa and slightly produced tip. In cespi- 
tana also, as in conchana, micana, &c., the female is much smaller than 
the male, and, in the best marked specimens of this most variable spe- 
cies, the markings never seem so sharply defined as in Douwbledayana, 
nor is the pale fascia, before the middle, so narrow nor so regular in 
form. 
Habitat, Ranworth fen, in July. Probably also Wicken and 
other fens. 
I have taken especial pains to point out the distinctions between 
this and cespitana, because I find that it has been confounded with that 
species both in this country and on the Continent. Professor Zeller 
writes “we think this a smaller, livelier var. of cespitana;” and Mr. 
Doubleday tells me that he has it as a variety of the same species. I regret 
to differ from such eminent authorities ; but I have taken this species 
in some plenty in its fenny haunts, and never found a cespitana or any- 
thing like it among them; while I have also taken the dark forms of 
the latter species ratherly commonly at Brandon on the “ Buck” sand, 
and all sorts of queer varieties on the slopes of the Hill of Howth and 
the limestone of Galway, and am firmly convinced that the two are 
totally distinct as species. 
