Publ. 9. rx. iai5. BOARMIA. By L. B. Peout. 377 



elongate form and more yellowish colour) have proved inconstant. — Larva very variable and showing no abso- 

 lutely constant difference from that of histortata; oftener dark or dull in colour, the V-shaped dorsal markings 

 perhaps less often completely developed. On various deciduous trees, June to August. The moth is single 

 brooded, appearmg m May and June, thus intermediate between the two broods of histortata, only in very 

 warm seasons sometimes already in April. It is generally common in England and Irland and is known to 

 me from Germany and Switzerland, probably overlooked in some localities but certainly much less distri- 

 buted than histortata. — hybr. gen. aest. bacoti Tutt (crepuscularia ^ X histortata $). Greyish, the lines ten- hacoti. 

 ding to be weak, some fuscous subterminal suffusion. — lutamentaria Graes. is a form from the Amur and hdamenta- 

 Ussuri districts and probably N. Japan, which still needs biological investigation. It is small and yellowish ""■ 



in tone, the bands and a median shade yellower. Staudingkr considered it very near English crepuscularia 

 but as it occurs from the end of June to the beginning of August it might rather be a second-brood form of 

 histortata or even (as STAXinrisfGER suggested) of excellens, but Grabsee says that the ^ antennal ciliation 

 is longer than in the former, the face broader and the eye more prominent. 9 ovipositor long. From crepuscu- 

 laria it differs in its somewhat smaller size and less sharp black lines. Neuration the same. 



B. histortata Goeze (= biundularia Bkh., crepuscularia Dup.) (21 g). This spezies, the crepuscularia histortata. 

 of most continental authors but not of Htjbjjeb, is far more variable than true crepuscularia, but in the rare 

 cases m which it is almost equally white it appears always to develop conspicuous brown or ochreous bands 

 proximally to the antemedian line and distally to the postmedian. Nearly always, however, the ground-colour 

 itself is more mixed with brown. — ab. fasciata {Renter, ubi?) Petersen is said to be very light, the postmedian /asciata. 

 line of both wmgs broadened into a black band. — ab. striata Aigner is rather dark-mottled, with the marginal atriata,. 

 dots extended mto longitudinal dashes. — ab. defessada i^rf. (= passetii Th.-Mieg, schillei Klem., tristis Eiesen) defessaria. 

 is dark fuscous throughout, with a white subterminal line. Only distinguishable from certain crepuscularia 

 ab. delamerensis and nigra by its somewhat more brownish tinge. — gen. aest. haeticaria Scharfenh. (= stri- baeiiearia. 

 gularia Steph.) is smaller and paler than the spring form, sometimes as pale as crepuscularia but then of a dead 

 greyish white (not yellowish) and weakly marked. — laricaria Haio. is a local race in the South of England, of laricaria- 

 a much brighter ochreous tone, sometimes very large. Confined to the spring brood, its progeny in July pro- 

 ducing haeticaria. — Egg smooth, though without gloss, only at the micropylar end reticulated; variable in 

 shape; yeUow-green; protected by a covering of wool from the end of the abdomen of the parent. — Larva stout 

 (perhaps slightly more so than crepuscularia larva), head and prothorax relatively small, mesothorax much 

 swollen, 8th abdommal with a horseshoe-shaped prominence; face with a dark V-shaped mark; body variable, 

 generally yellowish brown with darker mottlmgs, usually a distmct V-shaped dark dorsal mark on 2nd ab- 

 dominal, sometimes also on 3rd and 4th abdommal. Polyphagous on deciduous trees or even on yew, etc. Many 

 larva feed up rapidly in May and June and produce a second brood m July or August, others feed much more 

 slowly and the pupae hibernate. Pupa stout and compact, dull red-brown. The moth appears in March and 

 April. Widely distributed in Europe, Asia, Transcaucasia, perhaps also m Eastern Asia. — hybr. gen. aest. 

 ridingi Tutt (histortata cJ x crepuscularia $) resembles Aveakly-marked f. haeticaria, but generally with fuscous ridingi. 

 subterminal suffusion. 



B, grisescens Warr. seems to me to be probably an eastern race of histortata, certainly exceedingly grisescsns. 

 close. It was founded on $$ only (Nuigpo) and said to differ from excellens in its smaller size (46 — 52 mm.), 

 the entire absence of the dark blotch at (distally to) the middle of the postmedian line, as well as m the line 

 itseK being much less sinuate and dentate. A f^ from Ningpo, taken in April, agrees with this description and 

 is coloured about as m the most reddish grey (or fleshy tinged) examples of excellens, neuration, etc. as in 

 histortata. — A small race which is frequent in Japan (Hakodate, Oiwake, etc., June — July), measuring 

 only 26 — 38 mm, also evidently belongs here; it is variable in colour, but generally has the peculiar reddish- 

 grey tone (some $ 9 pa-ler with rather strong bands, as in certain $ histortata) and except in this and its straighter 

 lines and less suffused and irrorated underside (commonly showmg a postmedian line and sometimes cell-dots) 

 it seems indistinguishable from histortata. The markings distally to the postmedian line are variable. On account 

 of the rather straight lines and the locality I take this race to be obliqua Warr., described from Hakodate, ohliqua. 



B. dentilineata Moore may be a small, suffused, rather weakly marked race of histortata, but the stalk dentilineaia. 

 of the 1st — 2nd subcostal of the forewing commonly arises from the cell (in histortata almost always from the 

 stalk of the 3rd — 5th). Forewing perhaps slightly narrower. Dirty white or very pale yeUow-brown, with 

 rather strong brown irroration, the lines (especially of forewing) very weak or obsolete, on the other hand the 

 dark dashes on the veins, especially on and distally to the postmedian line, strongly developed. The dark spots 

 in the distal area much less conspicuous than in- excellens. ? ovipositor long. Larva scarcely distinguishable 

 from the ferruginous-and ochreous-varied forms of histortata : the V-shaped mark on the face scarcely darkened, 

 the ventral area little variegated. Bred by Hocking at Dharmsala from geranium, emerging at the end of 



IV '.- 4*^ 



