COSMOTRICHE POTATORIA. 163 



/3. Deep yellow or orange-yellow, with obsolete transverse lines. <? and 

 ? — ab. obsoleta-lntescens, n. ab. 



(4) a. The yellow ground colour, suffused with reddish-buff or -brown at 

 base of costa, the transverse lines of same shade ; buff hindwings with darker 

 transverse line, c? and ? — ab. proximo,, n. ab. 



[3. The yellow ground colour, suffused with reddish-buff or -brown in the costal 

 and hind marginal areas, with normal transverse lines, and reddish-buff hindwings 

 with darker transverse shade. S and ? — ab. intermedia, n. ab. 



(5) a. Reddish-brown or reddish -chocolate, with yellow basal inner- 

 marginal patch, a yellow discoidal streak, normal transverse markings ; hindwings 

 reddish-brown. <? and ? — ab. diminuta, n. ab. 



(3. Deep red-brown, or chocolate-brown, with a purplish gloss, the inner- 

 marginal basal area scarcely paler than rest of wing; transverse lines darker ; hind- 

 wings purplish red-brown, c? and ? =ab. extrema, n. ab. (the ? :z=ab. inversa, 

 Caradja). 



y. As in ab. extrema, but with transverse lines obsoletezrab. obsoleta- 

 extrema, n. ab. 



The forms that have hitherto been described appear to be limited 

 to the following : 



<r. ab. i?iversa, Caradja, "Iris," vol. viii., p. 113 footnote (1895). — In northern 

 Europe, in parts of northern Germany and Denmark, the species varies so that the 

 males are often light yellow, the females dark brown. The most extreme specimens 

 of this form, in which the <? has the $ colour, and vice versa, might well be 

 arranged as ab. inversa (Caradja). 



Caradja's name, inversa, is based on two distinct colour forms of the 

 species — a pale $ and a dark 2 — which have apparently no connection 

 whatever, either in origin or appearance. His male inversa might 

 cover the $ s of our forms berolinensis, potatoria, and lutescens, whilst his 

 female inversa would possibly cover the $ s of our forms— intermedia, 

 diminuta, and extrema. The question, therefore, arises, for which 

 of these sections his name should be retained. Since he states 

 that his name should be used for " the most extreme specimens in 

 which the $ has the $ colour " (assumed to be pale), and " the 

 most extreme specimens in which the $ has the $ colour " (assumed 

 to be dark), it would appear that inversa, Caradja, must be retained 

 either for ab. berolinensis $ , or ouf ab. exfrema 2 • The selection of 

 the $ would make the name synonymous with berolinensis, Heyne, so 

 that perhaps it had better be kept for the darker females, although 

 its application is difficult. 



j3. ab. berolinensis, Heyne, " Soc. Ent.," xiv., p. 3 (1899). — As is well known, 

 the ground colour, both in the $ and ? oi potatoria, vaiies not inconsiderably. In 

 the former it is dark brown, lighter brown, or brown mingled with lighter, more 

 yellowish, shades. In berolinensis it is pale yellow. The parts which are darkest 

 in the type, i.e., the basal half of the costa of the forewings, the oblique stripe, 

 and the marginal markings of the forewings, and the stripe-like shading of the 

 hindwings, are more or less distinctly shaded with grey-yellow (grey). This grey- 

 yellow (grey) tinge may be so strongly expressed, that the pale yellow ground 

 colour is covered almost all over with it. This form is apparently the rarest. 

 Usually the said tinge is weak, often only indicated. Full yellow dashes appear 

 outwards from the pale, yellowish-white, central lunule, and at the base, to the 

 inner margin. The hindwings and the underside agree in pattern with the type ; 

 only the ground colour, inclusive of the fringes, is pale yellow. The ground 

 colour of the ? is pale yellow, the markings as dark as in the type, and there- 

 fore stand out much more prominently than in the type, the ground colour being 

 much paler. The underside also is very much paler than in potatoria, often 

 almost white-yellow. The body in all parts is yellow in the £ , pale or white- 

 yellow in the ? ; only in a few especially strongly grey-yellow (or grey) tinged 

 S s, is the grey-yellow (grey) tint found also in the hairs of the palpi, collar, 

 thorax, abdomen, and legs. 



Heyne then adds ; " In 1898 I received some ^ s of the above- 



