316 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



operating on fresh pupae, the same change of colour is brought about 

 which also tends to occur, though rarely, in high alpine specimens. 



The following appear to be the more important aberrations 

 and varieties that have been figured and described : 



a. ab. infumata, Newnham, "Ent. Rec," ii., p. 198 (1891) ; Tutt, loc. cit., p. 

 223 (1891). — c? • Very dark ; the dark colour of all the wings has so far invaded the 

 whole colouring, that it has nearly expelled the ordinary orange colour from the 

 hindwings. Reared 1891 from larvae taken on the Longmynds in Shropshire (Newn- 

 ham). 



j3. ab. rosacea, Newnham, "Ent. Rec," ii., p. 198 (1891) ; Tutt, loc. cit., p. 

 223 (1891). — cf and 2 . A very diminutive pair, in which a brilliant rosy-crimson has 

 suffused the principal markings, this colour so far predominating that the bluish part 

 of the cresceut of the eye is altogether wanting, and this crescent reduced to a broad 

 rich crimson arc. The usually serrated line is scarcely indented at all, and broadly 

 suffused with crimson. This charming aberration might well be styled rosacea 

 (Newnham). 



y. ab. obsoleta, n. ab. Carpini var., Bond, "Ent.,"x., p. I, with fig. (1877). 

 — In the colour and markings of the specimen there is, perhaps, nothing worth 

 notice, excepting the absence of the ocellus in each wing, and also of one of the 

 nervures in each of the anterior wings. The specimen was bred by Mr. F. Barlow, 

 from a larva found feeding with many others on sallow in Sawston Fen, Cambridge- 

 shire (Bond). 



Bond further notes that from the same batch of larvae he 

 bred a curious $ , quite destitute of scales, in fact diaphanous, 

 and without markings, though perfect in other respects, and large 

 in size. The specimen is now in the " Stephens' Collection " in 

 the British Museum. The rest of the specimens bred were exceedingly 

 fine, the largest, a 2 , nearly four inches in expanse, the $ s also 

 large, measuring nearly three inches ; the markings in all these 

 clear and bright, the ground colour rather light, and not nearly so 

 dark as some specimens received from the north of England. This 

 type specimen of ab. obsoleta is mentioned in the Proceedings Ent- 

 omological Society of London, as having been exhibited at a meeting 

 of that Society on August 4th, 1851. An exactly parallel aberration 

 (ab. obsoleta) of S. spini ? , without ocellated spots on fore- or 

 hindwings, is described and figured by Gauckler (Illus. JVoc/i. fur Ent., 

 ii., p. 159). 



8. var. meridionalis, Calb., "Iris," i., p. 155 (1887) ; Staud., "Cat.," 3rd ed., 

 p. 127 (1901). — In the c? the upper side of the forewings is thickly dusted witli 

 orange-yellow, the ground colour of the hindwings, as far as the dark submarginal 

 band, a bright orange, but often the latter also is orange-dusted, and the light marginal 

 band of an orange colour. On the underside of all the wings the colour is likewise 

 brighter than in German specimens, the inner half of the outer marginal band white, 

 sharply divided from the outer dark half, divided by the dark nervures into spots, so 

 that in cell 6 of the hindwings as distinct a spot appears as in S. spini, Schiff. The ? s 

 vary much in colour, but are mostly darker brown-grey, and with a redder tinge than 

 there is in German specimens (Calberla). 



Staudinger diagnoses {Cat., 3rd ed., p. 127) var. meridionalis 

 as: " Major, dilutior, $ al. ant. aurantiaco - inspersis, al. post, 

 saturatius aurantiacis. It. c. et m." 



f. var. alpina, Favre, "Mitt. Schw. Ent. Ges.," x., r, p. 36 (1897) ; "Faun. 

 Macr. Lep. Valais," p. m (1899). — Se distingue du type par sa taille d'un bon tiers 

 plus petite, avec les ailes beaucoup moins ecailleiises et presque transparentes. 

 Pas rare dans l'alpe de Bovine et les environs du glacier dc Trient, Mont Arpilles, 

 &c. (Favre). 



Egglaying. — The natural manner of egglaying appears to be 

 to attach the eggs very closely together round and round the twigs 

 of some dead or living plant, the micropylar axis vertical to the plane 



