LACHNEIS LANESTEIS. 503 



is figured by Barrett (Brit. Lep., iii., pi. lxxxvii., fig. 3b ). Oberthiir 

 notes that " the species appears to vary little in France, although in 

 some examples the white spot of the fore wings entirely disappears." 

 Esper's figures (pi. xvii., figs. 2-3) are marvels of over-colouring, but 

 fig. 4 is a remarkable female in Avhich the bases of the right fore- and 

 hindwing to the transverse band are brown, almost as in Lasiocampa 

 qnerciis, and the outer margins pale yellow to the grey transverse line, 

 the brown extending into the outer marginal area towards the tip. On 

 the left fore- and hindwing, the base of the forewing is brown, the hind- 

 wing entirely pale yellow. The various grey forms have been severally 

 described as follows : 



a. var. arbusculae, Freyer, " Neu. Beit.," vi., pp. 179-180, 186, pi. 590, 

 fig. 2 (1852); Bisch., " J.-B. Nat. Ver. Augs.," xii., pp. 87 et seq., pi., figs. 

 a-h (1859); Stand., "Cat.," p. 68 (1871); Frey, "Lep. der Schweiz," p. 96 

 (1880); Fall., "Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr.," (6), x., p. xlvii (1890); Btihl, " Soc. 

 Ent.," vii., pp. 140 et scq. (1892); Kirby, "Cat. Lep. Het.," p. 833 (1892). 

 — In the above plate a larva is figured that is very closely allied to B. lanestris, 

 and that I found in hundreds, and yet did not breed a single imago. I have 

 already noticed the larva in the Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1843, p. 165, and was, at that 

 time, inclined to consider it a variety of B. crataegi. For years in succession I 

 found from 100-300 specimens on the higher Bavarian Alps, in the early, middle, 

 and full-grown stages, and even the eggs, which, as the figure shows, are enveloped 

 in grey wool quite as in lanestris, but failed to breed any, although I obtained 20-25 

 cocoons. The larva in its earliest stages lives in nests quite like those of B. everia 

 and lanestris. They are all dull black with fine hairs. After the third and fourth 

 moult the characteristic white and orange spots appear, four on each segment, of 

 which the front two are orange the others white. On the side, above the ochreous- 

 yellow legs, runs a line consisting of white dots. The whole body is covered with 

 thin, fine, reddish hairs. The head is black without any markings, and has 

 not the bright yellow cross which the larva of lanestris has. I found almost all the 

 larvte on alpine species of willow and alder, never below 5000ft. -6000ft. elevation. 

 They are fond of sunning themselves, and seem to prefer Salix arbuscula, but I 

 have also found them on Sorbus aria and Betula fructicosa. The cocoon is like 

 that of lanestris. The pupsB, which almost always dry up, also resemble those of that 

 species. As already mentioned, I have not yet succeeded in making acquaintance 

 with the imago (Freyer). After this was printed Freyer opened a cocoon which 

 he had preserved for several years, and took therefrom a pupa containing a dried- 

 up but perfectly formed male imago. This is noted as having " brown pectinated 

 antennas ; the head and thorax dark grey ; the forewings similar to those of B. 

 neogena, but the colour dark ashy-grey (not reddish) with whitish nervures ; at the 

 base is a whitish spot similar to that in B. lanestris." A supplementary figure is 

 given of this dried-up moth, which Freyer considered a new species. Bischoff, 

 however, in 1859, described and figured (Ber.Nat. Ver. Augsburg, xii., p. 87 and plate) 

 the variety in all its stages. He describes the imago as : " Gastropaclia arbusculae, 

 Frr. Alis supra subtusque rufo-brunneis, cilia elata albida, anticis lunula in disco 

 macuiaque alba ad basin. Ano griseo-lanato. Body and wings above and below 

 reddish-brown ; the wings with a dirty- white, zigzag band ; the forewings with a 

 white central lunule and a white basal patch ; the fringes white at the tips of the 

 wings, and chequered with white at the nervures ; the anus thickly clothed with 

 grey wool. The species is most closely allied to G. lanestris, but differs in the 

 broader and differently-shaped zigzag band and the absence of any other grey 

 spaces, as well as by the white apices of the wings, and the white dots at the end of 

 the nervures." The localities given for this variety are — Austro-Hungary : 

 Taufers, Innsbruck (Weiler). Germany : Silesia (Wocke). Italy: Alps — Valtellina 

 (Curo). Scandinavia (Aurivillius). Switzerland ; Balgrist nr. Zurich (Zeller- 

 Dolder), Arolla, at 8000ft. (Chapman), Sils Maria (Hnatek), Simplon, Berisal 

 (Wackerzapp). 



Weiler notes the form as occurring everywhere on the lower Alps 

 at Taufers, also higher up the mountains where only occasional birch 

 or sallow bushes are to be found. He further states that he found a 

 larva in August, 1873, which pupated in the middle of September, 

 the imago, a male, did not appear till the evening of March 22nd, 



