450 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



as I have never had the advantage of studying any work on 

 entomology." 



Imago. — The insects are as near alike to each other as any 

 species with which I am acquainted, and are as nearly inter- 

 mediate (between ocellata and populi) as one can conceive 

 (House). In the outline of the wings the character is intermediate 

 between the two species, the external margin being nearly similar 

 in its general figure to that of ocellata, but notched, although far 

 less strongly than in populi. The markings of the forewings 

 are almost identical with those of populi, the outer margin of the 

 dark discoidal central broad bar is more irregular, and is succeeded 

 by two waved fasciae, the first of which is less conspicuous than 

 the other. The markings of the hindwings, on the contrary, more 

 nearly resemble those of ocellata, the pink colour of the base is, 

 however, exchanged for the dark ferruginous colour as in populi, 

 extending more generally over the wing than in the latter species. 

 In the place, however, of the beautiful and clearly marked grey, 

 silvery, blue and black eye of ocellata, there is a large indistinctly 

 suffused black patch, in which is an obscurely defined dark leaden- 

 coloured eyelet. On this pair of wings are no traces of the trans- 

 verse lines of populi. On the underside, the markings of all the 

 wings resemble those of ocellata more nearly than those of populi, 

 there being four waved fasciae across the disc of the posterior 

 pair. The thorax has a large, oblong, dark mark, but not so 

 dark-coloured or large as in ocellata ; in populi there is no trace 

 of this mark. From the form of the body, and the pectination ot 

 the antennae it must be regarded as a $ . PL xi., fig. i is an 

 illustration of this insect (Westwood). The imagines are beautiful 

 and curious, having all the markings and all the colours of both 

 species in one ; some have the markings of ocellata on one wing 

 and those of populi on the other ; some have populi bodies and others 

 ocellata bodies, and the wings vice versa (Hague). The forewings 

 with a slight mixture of ocellata, hindwings with the brick-coloured 

 blotch and eyespot as well marked as can be expected (Adamson). 

 The forewings resemble those of populi, only they are much darker, 

 and the hindwings those of ocellata, the moon, or large, round, bluish- 

 like spot fully developed (Galliers). The markings and colours of 

 both species come out very distinctly (Porritt). The forewings of 

 a pair of hybrid ocellata X populi in my possession, are of a rich 

 brown colour with the markings of A. populi, the hind- 

 wings being marked like those of 6*. ocellata, with the patch 

 of a reddish colour, and the eye very distinctly marked, but without 

 the pupil (Chawner). Donitz exhibited (Berl. E?it. Zeits., xxxvi., 

 Sitz. p. xxii) a hybrid of £. ocellata X populi, which had in general 

 the form of populi and the colour of ocellata. Particularly striking 

 are the dentated margins of the wings, as populi also has them. 

 The colour is very much duller than in ocellata, and the dark 

 central stripe on the thorax (which ocellata possesses) is want- 

 ing. The specimen was obtained from Schaufuss, of Meissen. 

 Herr Gleissner remarked that he had made an attempt to 

 pair ocellata ? with populi 3 , the $ had laid eggs but 

 only one larva hatched, and that also perished after a few 

 hours. Herr Ziegler also showed (loc. cit., p. xxiii) a hybrid of 



