98 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The specimen is not only an extreme example of the white- 

 spotted form, but it has, in addition, largfe pearly-green blotches on 

 the secondaries, of much the same colouring as that of the var. 

 valesina ; thus exhibiting a curious combination of the white 

 spotting of the male aberration referred to, the ground colouring 

 of the normal female, and part coloration of valesina. 



I am not aware of the occurrence of the white-spotted form 

 of papilla in any British locality, other than the New Forest. 



It is reasonable to suppose, from what we know of the earliest 

 existing Lepidoptera, that they lacked then the brilliancy of 

 colour with which so many are now adorned, and that, in the 

 world's earlier ages, only brown, black, and white forms existed ; 

 therefore, in all probability, var. valesina still represents the 

 ancestral colouring of the species we know as A. paphia, and pos- 

 sibly the white spots appearing in certain of the males may be 

 instances of reversion to a later transitional stage in the develop- 

 ment of that species. 



V LEPIDOPTEEA OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 

 By Eichaed South. 



Mb. Mc Arthur, who spent the summer of 1892 in the Shet- 

 lands, was good enough, on his return in September last, to allow 

 me to examine the small but interesting collection of Lepidoptera 

 which he had made, under the most adverse meteorological con- 

 ditions, in this far-away portion of Great Britain. 



On his way to Shetland, Eannock in Perthshire was visited, 

 and Asteroscopus nuheculosa searched for. This species appears 

 to be getting scarcer in its old Scottish locality. The bulk of the 

 specimens taken last year were captured at the end of March, 

 when the days were really warm. Larvae of Sesia scoliiformis 

 were also obtained, and from these a few imagines were subse- 

 quently bred. On the 15th of April, when Mr. McArthur left 

 Eannock for Forres in Morayshire, the weather was very severe, 

 and everything deeply buried in snow. At Forres the weather 

 was fine on the 17th and 18th of April, and a good number of 

 Retinia duplana were taken, but on the 19th there was a change, 

 and wintry weather again prevailed, putting a stop to ento- 

 mological work until May 18th, on which day a start was made 

 for Shetland. After his arrival the weather seems to have been 

 fine for about a week, but later on was of a most uncongenial 

 character. From the 8th of July until the end of August the 

 sun was only visible at rare intervals for about five minutes at a 

 time, and altogether there were not twenty-four hours of sun- 

 shine throughout the whole period referred to. Seeing how 

 unfavourable the weather was for collecting, it is not surprising 



