LASIOCAMPA quercus. 5l 



ration in this direction is far removed from var. sicula, which does 

 not appear to occur in southern France even as a chance form. 

 Another extreme male aberration occurring with the type, var. vibumi, 

 &c, is the ab. marginata, n. ab., in which the outer marginal 

 areas of the fore- and hindwings are yellow, the pale transverse 

 band having spread on both wings to the outer margin. This is 

 figured by Hiibner (Eur. Schmett., fig. 270) and the form is erroneously 

 referred to ab. roboris, Schrk., by Humphreys and Westwood (Brit. 

 Moths, pi. xi., figs. 9, 13); it appears to occur as a rare aberration 

 everywhere with the type in central (and southern) Europe. Another 

 male form (=ab. guillemotii), exactly parallel with var. sick la in its 

 markings (narrow transverse band to forewings, and yellow outer mar- 

 ginal area to hindwings), is occasionally found, but the normal dark 

 ground colour distinguishes it at once from the russet-tinted var. sicula. 

 The typical males of Z. quercus from the lowlands of central Europe have, 

 on the whole, a wider transverse band to the forewings than that of any 

 other race, except, perhaps, var. alpina (and those aberrations in which 

 it is continued to the outer margin). The southern forms are all narrow- 

 banded on the forewings, var. sicula especially so, and although var. 

 meridionalis has perhaps a narrower band than var. vibumi, both 

 have it characteristically narrow, and var. callunae is, on the whole, a 

 narrow-banded form. There is also a greater tendency towards the 

 development of the yellow basal patch, so characteristic of most 

 examples of var. callunae, in British L. quercus, than in the con- 

 tinental races, the epaulette - marking being far from common in 

 examples from central Europe. Typical Parisian Z. quercus are very 

 similar to English ones. There also appears to be a fairly wide range 

 in the colour variation of British females of Z. quercus, extending 

 from ,pale yellow-ochreous to reddishrochreous, and with a general 

 tendency to uniformity in the colour of the fore- and hindwings ; there is 

 frequently a distinct difference of tint between the fore- and hindwings 

 of Z. var. calhmae (which are generally much darker, and more suffused 

 than in Z. querciis) ; this comparative difference in the fore- and hind- 

 wings is also noticeable in the $ s of var. vibumi and var. meridion- 

 alis, whilst in tone the former is somewhat redder than the latter. 

 In var. sicula the $ s have a more uniform coloration between the 

 fore- and hindwings, and are much redder and more suffused than 

 either of the other southern forms. A Swiss $ from Vogt, in 

 Warburg's collection, has the outer marginal area of all four wings 

 yellow, as in Hiibner's fig. 270. Two other Swiss males from 

 Flims have broad whitish-ochreous transverse bands on all the 

 wings (? var. alpina). Other Swiss examples from Geneva are not 

 unlike the narrow-banded ab. spartii, whilst German males from 

 various localities are indistinguishable from British. As for the 

 direction of the inner edge of the transverse band of the forewings 

 there is great variation. Commencing always at about the same 

 point on the costa, it may be perfectly straight to the inner margin, 

 oblique towards the anal angle, slightly angulated outwardly near 

 costa, curved regularly from costa to inner margin, &c. A some- 

 what similar range of variation is observed in the 2 s, and the outer 

 marginal areas in this sex are more frequently of a paler tint than the 

 rest of the wings and concolorous with the band, whilst others have 

 distinct narrow pale transverse bands only. There is often a tend- 



