486 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



tinted, except for the slightest suspicion of the central band of the 

 forewings. The British males are, on the whole, smaller, whiter, and 

 much more clearly marked than the continental specimens. Oberthur 

 notes that the Eennes form is very much like the English, and we 

 observe that the Frankfort and Hanover examples approach the latter in 

 tint. Among the aberrational forms noted, Eaynor says that the Panton 

 district (larvae on whitethorn hedges) produced fine large dark imagines, 

 and that he reared a pale chalky form from ova received from Coventry. 

 Ash observes that a Skipwith larva produced a crippled male with dark 

 band, similar to Lincolnshire examples, which latter Eaynor notes as 

 very large and dark compared with Essex specimens, whilst Barrett states 

 that the ground colour of the forewings varies from grey to nearly white. 

 There are specimens with creamy-white ground colour in the Doubleday 

 coll., and Mason has one of a blackish-grey colour with a still darker 

 band (possibly var. ariae) . Staudinger records a very dark aberration 

 from Asia Minor, bred in October (Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., xiv., p. 

 365). In the more ordinary forms of the male we appear to get two 

 distinct types of coloration : 



(1) j . Whitish, with darker median band. 2 . Pale buff = ab. pallida, n. ab. 



(2) c? . Ashy-grey, with darker median band. 2 . Dark grey-brown = crataegi, 

 Linn. 



Besides these there is an extreme form of the latter, which has developed 

 into a very distinct race in moorland districts and at high altitudes and 

 latitudes. This race appears to have an almost parallel life-history with 

 that of Lasiocampa quercus var. callunae, although perhaps there is a 

 larger percentage of autumnal emergences in this than in the latter, and 

 was named ariae by Hiibner. The very pale, almost white, form with 

 grey median band is recorded from Chateau-du-Loir by de Graslin. 

 Nolcken observes that in the Baltic provinces there are specimens with 

 suffused coloration, in which the markings are not so sharply defined, 

 and which come near ariae, Hb., and he has a male in which the 

 black shading of the central band is not developed. 



a. var. (et ab.) ariae, Hb., " Schmett. Eur.," figs. 288-289 (? 1800) ; Staud., "Cat.," 

 p. 68 (1871); Schoy., "Norg. Ark. Lep.," p 177 (1881); Hoffmn., " Stett. Ent. Zeit.," 

 xlix., p. 148 (1889) ; Kirby, " Cat. Lep. Het.," p. 837 (1892); Reut., "Act. Soc.F.F. 

 Fenn.," ix., p. 27 (1893). Arbusculae, Pfaff., " Stett. Ent. Zeit,." xxi., p. 126 (I860).— 

 Hiibner's figures (Sclimett. Eur.) 288-9 represent the upper and undersides of a 

 large and dark 2 specimen of this form, which shows the same uniform cinereous- 

 grey tint as the examples of this variety in the British Museum collection, but with 

 the median band of the forewings darker tban usual, and showing also the pale line 

 edging the external border of the band ; one traces also the dark transverse shade 

 of the hindwing. [The colour of the figures has changed and is now very unsatis- 

 factory.] The British Museum examples (Frey coll.) from the Engadine and Upper 

 Hartz may be diagnosed as follows : 3 . About 38mm. Cinereous or ash-grey, with a 

 dark median band, strongly margined with two very dark transverse lines, the 

 median band extending narrowly inside along the inner margin to thorax ; the 

 area between the median band and the thorax almost as dark as the band, out- 

 side the band the wing area is paler and with only a faint trace of the slightly 

 darker submarginal line. Hindwings unicolorous, ashy-grey, slightly brownish 

 towards base, with dark transverse shade towards the base, and dark nervures. 

 2 . About 40mm. -42mm. With cinereous or ashy-grey forewings, the median band but 

 little darker, edged externally with paler, which makes the edge of the fascia look 

 still darker than it really is, but both the outer and inner edges are rather darker 

 than the fascia ; the hindwings grey, with a darker grey transverse fascia near base, 

 paler on either side. Localities : This variety is recorded from : — Austeo-Hun- 

 gaey: Innsbruck, on the Schliickenalpe (? = frcyeri) (Weiler). Belgium: Brussels 

 (Breyer). France: Douai, rare (Foucart). Geejiany: Silesia (Assmann), Biesen 

 (Hofmann), Hartz (Hoffmann), Augsburg (Pfaffenzeller), Mangfall disk (v. Gump- 

 penberg). Italy : rare in Alps (Curo). Russia : Lapland (Teich). Scandinavia : up 



