1890.] 21 



anterior-wings, the presence of the whitish fascia before the first transverse line, 

 and the less distinct angles of the second." Adornatella is distinguished " by the 

 want of the fascia between the base of the wing and the first transverse line." 



Some years later. Professor Zeller sent me types of both forms, and certainly 

 these appeared sufiiciently different. His adornatella is of a dark red-grey, much 

 like the colour of obductella, and its markings are suffused and indistinct, but the 

 second line has a deep indentation above the middle, and it has no pale fascia before 

 the first line. His suhornatella is paler in colour, the red-grey being varied with 

 ashy-white. This ashy-white forms an indistinct, irregular fascia before the first 

 line, an extensive patch towards the costa in the central area of the wing, and 

 another patch towards the hind margin. In the second line occurs a similar in- 

 dentation. The two forms, therefore, look very different from the irregular whitish 

 markings in suhornatella, but the shapes of the wings, the positions and forms of 

 the two transverse lines, and pair of spots between them, are very similar. 



The object of the translation of Zeller's descriptions in the Ent. Ann., 1867, 

 was to show that the species which had stood in British collections up to that time 

 under the name of dilutella, was really adornatella, Tr., and to introduce to the 

 British fauna an insect then recently taken by Mr. Greening, in the Isle of Man, 

 which agreed accurately with suhornatella, Dup., and from that time both names 

 have figured in our collections and lists. I had then been collecting in Ireland, and 

 Tery soon found that my specimens from the Dublin coast agreed with those from 

 the Isle of Man. An opportunity afterwards occurred of collecting at Box Hill, and 

 there I found, commonly, the other form agreeing closely with adornatella, and for 

 many years I believed them distinct. Subsequently, I captured and reared speci- 

 mens in Pembrokeshire, which agreed in most cases with the Irish and Isle of Man 

 insects ; and specimens came to hand from Perthshire, which seemed to constitute 

 a red variety of the same — suhornatella. 



At Durdham Downs, near Bristol, a form is common which on the whole is 

 lighter and brighter looking than any of the foregoing, the red-grey being almost 

 limited to the edges of the transverse lines, and the intermediate spaces much 

 suffused with ochreous and ashy-white, but as no whitish fascia appears near the 

 base, these have been considered to be adornatella. The female of this local form 

 is more suffused with red-grey. At Folkestone a pale form is also found, but with 

 little of the ochreous colouring, it, indeed, resembles ordinary suhornatella, except 

 from the absence of the basal fascia. 



Those from Box Hill are darker, especially in the female, and, as I said before, 

 agree closely with Zeller's types of adornatella ; and a few specimens taken in 

 Norfolk present similar characteristics. It would, therefore, seem that adornatella 

 inhabits the south and east, suhornatella the north and west. 



But, for some years, my friend Mr. N. M. Richardson, has been studying what 

 we have called adornatella in the Isle of Portland, where, from the nature of the 

 ground, the capture of specimens is not very easy. He has, however, this year 

 secured a considerable series, which he sent me for examination. Some of these ai'e 

 red-brown, or red-grey, more or less dark, with indistinct markings, and hardly any 

 trace of whitish clouding — resembling Box Hill specimens, — others are in varying 

 degrees brighter in colour, with the red most distinct in the neighbourhood of the 

 two transverse lines, in some cases having ochreous shading towards the dorsal 



