300 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



noteworthy ; such an example is labelled " Rugen Island." Another 

 extremely pallid specimen in the same collection is a small $ of 

 fawn-grey tint, the darker areas reduced to a minimum, the basal, 

 costal and outer marginal areas being of the pale ground-colour and 

 without darker shading ; the hindwings with the pale areas of a 

 pink, inclining to white. Jn others the pale parts of the forewings 

 are tinged with reddish, which gives them a grey-brown appearance, 

 whilst a Westphalian example has an exceedingly rich red coloration 

 to the hindwings. A still more remarkable aberration 'is one in 

 which the pale areas of the forewings are brown with the ordinary 

 black markings, whilst the hindwings are sufficiently tinged with 

 brown to mask the normal red colour ( = ab. brunnea, n. ab.). A 

 specimen from the Frey coll. that shows sign of crippling in the 

 shorter forewings has the median and basal bands of the hindwings 

 united, a character that distinguishes the only Japanese example 

 in the collection. Roughly, one may group what may be termed 

 the normal range of variation of the species thus : 



1. Groundcolour whitish-grey — the basal, costal, and outer marginal areas 

 clear; the median (banded) area not strongly shaded with darker; the hindwings 

 pinkish-white in tint with normal black bandsrz:ab. pallida, n. ab. 



2. As in I, but the median (banded) area dark, the costal, basal and outer 

 marginal areas slightly shaded with darker ; the hindwings pinkish with normal 

 bands=ab. subpallida, n. ab. 



3. As in 1, but the median (banded) area dark, the costal, basal and outer 

 marginal areas strongly shaded with blackish-grey ; the hindwings normal— ab. 

 incerta, n. ab. 



4. Ground colour fawn-grey or greyish -pink, median (banded) area brown- 

 black, submarginal area and apex tinged with whitish-grey ; hindwings normal z=z ab. 

 typica, n. ab. 



5. As in 4, but median (banded) area quite blackish, submarginal area and apex 

 hardly tinged with grey — ab. intermedia, n. ab. 



6. As in 4, but the tint of the black median area extended into the costal 

 areas ; the hindwings with black bands somewhat extended— ab. obscura, n. ab. 



One aberration alone appears to have been named, viz., spiraeae, 



Esper. The original description of this aberration reads as follows : 



a. ab. spiraeae, Esp., " Schmett. Eur.," ii., supp. p. 21, pi. xlii., fig. 1 (1798); 

 Staud., "Cat.," 2nd ed., p. 36 (1871) ; 3rd ed., p. 101 (1901) ; Bartel, " Takvark. 

 Gross-Schmett.," ii., p. 47 (1899). Ligustri, Hb., " Sphmg.," fig. 143 (circ. 

 1800). Spireae, Kirby, "Cat.," p. 692 (1892). — Alis integns : (macula baseos 

 alba); posticis incarnatis fasciis duabus nigris, abdomine rubro, cingulis nigris. 

 (Simillimus Sphingi ligustri, j Although the specific light of this moth, of which 

 we have at present only a single bred example, is not yet confirmed by more 

 examples, yet, according to the ordinary rules of Nature, it is likely that she has, 

 with apparently slight deviation, formed an essentially different species, and I here 

 give an accurate figure of this rarity sent me by Von Koy and Von Bohm. 

 According to the gardener at Buda, he found the larva on Spiraea clianiaedri folia. 

 It was strikingly different from the larva of Sphinx ligustri, both in size and 

 markings, which, however^ are not described, lie was not able to find this larva 

 again last year. The much reduced size already afforded a striking difference from 

 Sphinx ligustri, which so seldom varies in size. The moth was a ? and laid several 

 eggs which resembled those of Sphinx t iliac ; its <$ would, therefore, be smaller 

 still. Jn form it shows also other differences— The forewings are in proportion to 

 its small size somewhat broader and the hindwings more rounded ; on the upper 

 side of the forewings runs an oblong-round white spot, which, in ligustri, is never of 

 equal breadth and colour, also, is not divided by traversing stripes and nei vines. The 

 usual black-brown "veil " is here very pale and almost lost in the brownish. Ligustri 

 has, on the upper side of the hindwings, near the base, a black spot or curved band, 

 that is wanting in our moth, and the two bands which follow are also much narrower. 

 The second in ligustri stands nearer to the margin, here more in the middle. The 

 black band on the underside of the hindwings has likewise this position, ami is, more- 



