206 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



rather light red-brown in colour, with yellow fringes, which, he says, is a 

 form that rather rarely occurs in Germany; whilst on the forewings the 

 dark outer transverse line is almost entirely wanting ; the middle line, 

 and to a large extent the basal, are black, and stand out very sharply. 

 We have, in our collection, a similar British example (from Cuxton), 

 and suspect it to be not very far from the var. meridionalis. Staudinger 

 does not mention this form in the Cat., 3rd ed., p. 123. His localities 

 suggest that he considers it a transition form to var. (et ab.) ulmifolia. 



d. var. dalmatina, Gerhard, " Berl. Ent. Zeits.," xxvi., p. 128. — From Dal- 

 matia, somewhat lighter than the type, the black dentated line which runs from 

 apex towards inner margin is not visible, the second dentated line only quite faintly 

 indicated, also on the underside the markings are very indistinct (Gerhard). 



This is probably but little lighter than the type, presumably 

 light reddish, not yellowish, in colour, as is the ab. ulmifolia, to 

 which Staudinger refers it. 



e. var. gen. ii., hoegei, Heuack., " Stett. Ent. Zeit.," xxxiv., p. 244 (1873) ; 

 Kirby, "Cat.," p. 823 (1892); Auriv., "Iris," vii., p. 170 (1894) ; Staud., "Cat.," 

 3rd ed., p. 123 (1901). — Duplo minor. Quercifolia has with us, in warm summers, a 

 second brood ; in 1868, Heir C. F. Hoge of Hamburg bred a large number, which 

 only differ from the parent ? in their extraordinarily small size ( $ s 36, 2 s 39mm. in 

 expanse) ( Heuacker ) . 



This form is possibly never taken in nature, in Britain, although 

 an occasional specimen is bred from a larva that feeds on in confine- 

 ment, instead of undergoing its ordinary hybernation. In addition to 

 the small size which always characterises such individuals, Petersdorff 

 notes (Berl. Ent. Zeits., xlv., Sitz. p. 52) that they appear, in 

 Germany, to have a paler ground colour, and less distinct mark- 

 ings than the typical form. Belling exhibited (loc. cit.) artificially 

 reared second brood examples that were not only much smaller than 

 usual, but were also covered thickly with plum-blue scales, the 

 lunular spots of the submarginal bands of all the wings being either 

 ill-developed or entirely wanting ; in the $ s the reddish ground 

 colour is especially intense. 



£. ab. alnifolia, Ochs., "Die Schmett.," iii., p. 250 (1810) ; Germ., 

 "Bomb. Spec," p. 50 (1812) ; Staud., "Cat.," 2nd ed., p. 69 (1871) ; 3rd ed., 

 p. 123 (1901); Kirby, " Cat.," p. 823(1892); Auriv., " Iris," vii., p. 170(1894); 

 Spul., " Reutti's Lep. Bad.," 2nd ed., p. 58 (1898). — The ground form is copper- 

 brown ; on the head and collar stands a black streak, and the epaulettes are similarly 

 margined. The wings are slightly and smoothly dentated, the forewings dirk 

 copper-brown, on the costa, as far as to the middle, black, on the outer margin 

 bluish, on the inner margin rust-brown ; the first two transverse lines consist of two 

 cap-shaped uninterrupted black parallel lines, the third of lunular spots with their 

 hollow sides turned inwards. The hind wings are at the costa rust-brown, in the 

 central part blackish, at the outer margin bluish tinged ; through the middle runs a 

 double black transverse stripe, and a second single one stands in almost straight 

 position before the outer margin, where it is cut oft' sharply and runs inwards into the 

 ground colour. The underside is copper-brown, the forewings in the middle shaded 

 with black, with a row of spots of the same colour before the margin. In the middle 

 of the hindwings stands a curved black band, and near the outer margin a not 

 distinctly defined shade of the like colour. I have found this variety in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Leipzig, and know no transition to the other form in the aspect of the 

 markings, but only in the ground colour, and leave it to others to decide whether it 

 can be erected as a separate species under the name Gast. alnifolia (Ochsenheimer). 

 Distribution. — Austro-Hungary : Inn Valley— Innsbruck (Weiler), Eperies, 

 rarer than type (Husz), Golnitz (Hudak). BELGIUM : Brussels (Donckier). 

 GERMANY : Lower Llbe district, everywhere on the moors (Zimmermann), Bremen, 

 where only the variety occurs: (Kehberg), Baden district, rare (Spiiler). Russia: 

 Wolmar, commoner than the type (Lutzau), Moscow district, very rare (Assmuss). 

 Scandinavia : commoner than the type (Aurivillius). Spain: Bilbao (Seebold). 



