LASIOCAMPA QUERCUS. 59 



form (afterwards named sicitla by Staudinger) under this title, and 

 his further details (Joe. cit., p. 442) suggest strongly that he had 

 no clearly definite notion of the differences existing between the 

 southern races, all of which he erroneously united under the name 

 spartii which Hiibner had, as we have said, given to a German 

 aberration. This he recognised, to some extent, in 1868, when he 

 again dealt with the querctis group (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1868, 

 pp. 403 et seq.), this time with considerable success, although he still 

 states that the typical spartii of Dahl and Hiibner is only found in 

 Sicily, a remarkable statement when one suspects that Gue'nee must 

 have seen Hiibner's work, and that Hiibner, in his description of 

 spartii (Eur. Sc/wiett., text p. 144) writes : Heim. : Deutschland; 

 einzeln noch, in mehreren Gegenden." On the other hand, there is 

 the suspicion that Guenee believed that Hiibner's spartii did 

 represent a southern form, for he described his Provengal viburni as 

 a form of spartii, a result possibly that led Staudinger erroneously to 

 sink the southern var. viburni as synonymous with the German 

 aberration spartii. It must be confessed that the imagines are not 

 unlike, but whereas spartii comes from quite typical querctis larvae, 

 the larva of viburni is quite specialised and distinctive. We know, 

 now, that Hiibner's spartii (from Germany) and Gue'nee's viburni 

 (from southern France) are quite distinct forms, and that the former 

 is simply a narrow-banded aberration of the type, that might occur 

 anywhere in central or western Europe, indeed Spuler says (Lep. 

 Bad., 2nd ed., p. 58) that in Baden it occurs " sparingly everywhere 

 in hot summers, in the female sex only approximations, in the male 

 the typical aberration." Lampa refers (Ent. Tids., 1885, p. 41) 

 certain northern examples to ab. spartii, Hb., diagnosing them as : 

 " Darker, the yellow transverse band narrow," and recording them 

 from " Sweden, East Gothland, Norrbotten, Lapland." One suspects 

 that these examples are likely to have the callunae habit rather 

 than that of spartii, which is so nearly allied to the type, 

 although they might just possibly have had to be referred to the 

 Linnean type, which is also a narrow-banded form, and very probably 

 Scandinavian, but the type is described as ferruginous in colour. 



f. var. meridionalis, Tutt, "Ent. Rec," xiii., p. 113 (1901) ; Bacot, loc. 

 cit., pp. 114 et seq. (1901) ; Warburg, loc. cit., pp. 237 et seq. (1901). Querctis, 

 Gn., " Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr." (3), vi., p. 44 (1858) ; loc. cit. (4), viii., p. 403 et 

 seq. (1868); Mill., " Cat. Lep. Alp.-Mar.," p. 141 (1875); Warburg, "Ent. 

 Rec," viii., p. 316 C1896). — 3 . Deep chocolate - brown, with a comparatively 

 narrow and very definite yellow transverse band to both fore- and hindwings, 

 that on forewing dropping from costa in a short curve (convex to base of wing 

 on its inner margin) before turning slightly outwards, and then running to the 

 inner margin, where there is another very slight curve towards base; on the hind- 

 wings the band forms a regular curve almost parallel to hind margin from the 

 costa direct to the anal angle ; the outer margins of both fore- and hindwings 

 almost as dark chocolate-brown as basal areas ; the white median spot of fore- 

 wings very bright, moderately large ; fringes of the forewings concolorous with 

 the outer area, fringes of the hindwings varying from concolorous with outer 

 margin to bright yellow ; tendency for nervures on outer marginal area of hind- 

 wings to be yellowish ; antennal shaft paler than pectinations. ? . Forewings 

 yellow-ochreous, transverse band narrow, definite, same direction as in male, and 

 slightly dark- tinted on inner margin, median white spot surrounded with a dark 

 ring. Nervures rather paler in outer marginal area than the ground colour. 

 Hindwings of a redder ochreous tint; a defiuite transverse band, the outer area 

 rather paler, the nervures therein still rather paler than the ground colour. 

 Larva: Head orange-red in colour; dorsal urticating fur pure white (Tutt). 



