534 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



and second transverse lines varies considerably — in some the lines are 

 very closely approximate. The third transverse line or submarginal 

 band may be continuous or broken, faint, a mere shadow, or non- 

 existent. The pale ochreous unicolorous form of the female is much 

 less frequently met with than the corresponding form of the male." 

 Barker records a pale ochreous unicolorous male. There is, how- 

 ever, a form of the male already noted (ante, p. 523) in which the 

 forewings are distinctly marked with olive-brown, whilst Barrett 

 mentions a specimen with forewings entirely olive-brown in tint, 

 without transverse lines, and another smoky-brown (especially the 

 hindwings). Oberthiir says that the male varies little in France and 

 this chiefly in the character of the transverse median band of the fore- 

 wing ; this band is more or less brown, contracted, but is extended on the 

 inner margin of the wing owing to its inner edge being bent round 

 towards the wing-base. He adds, however, that he has English 

 examples (from the " Howard Vaughan " coll.) which are very like 

 americana, Harris, others unicolorous pale, and dark brown ; also 

 females with the disc of the upper wing clear yellow. None of these 

 aberrations appear to have been found in France, the species being, like 

 many other lepidoptera, more variable in England than in France. 

 Nolcken states that the species shows great variation in size and colour, 

 in the Baltic provinces, whilst Eomanoff also observes that in 

 Transcaucasia, the imagines are very variable. Staudinger notes that 

 in the Caraman district the imagines are somewhat smaller and paler 

 than German examples. 



The already described forms of this species are : 



a. ab. taraxacoides, Bell., "Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.," p. 102, pi. iv., fig. 1, ? (1851); 

 Staud., "Cat.," p. 68 (1871); Kirby, "Cat.," p. 839 (1892); Beutti, " Lep. Bad.," 

 2nd ed., p. 57 (1898). — The more or less dark ferruginous colour, which is usually 

 found in ? s of this species, is replaced by a very pale yellow-ochreous tint, with 

 which the forewings are uniformly coloured above and below. The head, antennae, 

 corselet, abdomen, and legs partake of this same colour. The two bent lines on 

 the upper side of the forewings, and that on the upper side of the hindwings have 

 disappeared almost entirely, and it is necessary to examine the insect with care to 

 observe even a trace of them. Although I ha\e reared a great number of castreiisis 

 each year, I never before obtained a similar aberration, but this year two emerged 

 at an interval of three or four days. The cause is quite inexplicable, as the larva? 

 were fed with others, and kept throughout with others at the same time, in the 

 same place, &c. One is tempted to consider it to be due to disease, which often 

 produces albinic specimens in lepidoptera. It has not been observed in other col- 

 lections, and is called taraxacoides, because of its similarity to taraxaci (Bellier de 

 la Chavignerie). 



The colour of the figure in the British Museum copy of the Annals 

 has so changed that the originalt int is quite unrecognisable. Staudinger 

 diagnoses it as " al. concolor. stramineis," and Oberthiir observes that 

 only two females of the ab. taraxacoides, were taken by Bellier de la 

 Chavignerie, and these were bred from larvre found near Paris. This 

 form is occasionally bred in England, and Beutti records one from 

 Stockhert. 



(3. var. (et ab.) veneta, Standf ., " Stett. Ent. Zeit.," xlv., pp. 193-194 (1884); Kirby, 

 " Cat.," p. 839 (1892); Auriv., " Iris," vii., p. 139 (1894).— 3 . Alis anticis et brunneo- 

 fasciatis et late brunneo-marginatis ; antennis, capite, thorace, corpore brunneis. 

 Exp. alar. 29mm. -30mm. ? . Supra subtusque brunnea, solo fascia media anguste 

 flavo-marginata. Exp. alar. 42mm. -46mm., 12 s ,8 ? . Patria : Italia septentrionalis, 

 litus venetum. The size of the male of var. veneta (29mm. -36mm.) exceeds that of the 

 type (26mm. -30mm.) and has a dark brown median transverse band, and is also broadly 

 dark brown on the outer margin ; the head, antenna?, thorax and abdomen are 



