﻿50 
  BRITISH 
  LEPIDOPTERA. 
  

  

  probable 
  home 
  of 
  this 
  pupa 
  to 
  Grimsby, 
  but 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  evidence 
  

   whatever 
  that 
  this 
  was 
  so. 
  Our 
  own 
  suspicion 
  is 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  un- 
  

   wittingly 
  obtained 
  from 
  someone 
  already 
  breeding 
  the 
  form." 
  

   This 
  2 
  was 
  paired 
  with 
  a 
  typical 
  $ 
  (loc. 
  cit.) 
  and 
  from 
  the 
  progeny 
  of 
  

   these, 
  in 
  1892, 
  Harrison 
  obtained 
  typical 
  lubricipeda, 
  intermediates, 
  and 
  

   many 
  zatima. 
  f 
  Some 
  of 
  the 
  latter 
  he 
  paired, 
  and 
  from 
  these 
  thousands 
  

   have 
  been 
  reared 
  and 
  distributed 
  in 
  British 
  collections. 
  It 
  is 
  sufficient 
  to 
  

   say 
  that 
  at 
  this 
  first 
  inbreeding 
  the 
  characters 
  of 
  the 
  race 
  were 
  strongly 
  

   marked 
  and 
  fixed. 
  The 
  fixity 
  of 
  the 
  zatima 
  type 
  in 
  these 
  specimens 
  

   was 
  excellently 
  illustrated 
  in 
  the 
  results 
  obtained 
  by 
  Tug 
  well 
  [Entom., 
  

   xxvi., 
  p. 
  247) 
  and 
  Porritt 
  (op. 
  cit., 
  p. 
  296). 
  

  

  Bateson 
  notes 
  (Science 
  Progress, 
  October 
  1897, 
  January 
  1898) 
  the 
  

   contradictory 
  results 
  observed 
  in 
  the 
  breeding 
  of 
  varieties 
  of 
  Spiloaoma 
  

   lubricipeda 
  as 
  recorded 
  byBurckhardt 
  (Standfuss, 
  Handbuch, 
  etc.,2nded., 
  

   p. 
  11), 
  and 
  by 
  South 
  (Entom., 
  1898, 
  p. 
  257). 
  He 
  considers 
  this 
  to 
  have 
  

   been 
  largely 
  brought 
  about 
  by 
  atavic 
  conditions, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  results 
  

   depended 
  upon 
  the 
  strain 
  employed. 
  With 
  this 
  latter 
  statement 
  we 
  quite 
  

   agree. 
  In 
  some 
  strains 
  of 
  S. 
  lubricipeda 
  ab. 
  zatima, 
  used 
  for 
  experimental 
  

   purposes, 
  the 
  strain 
  has 
  possibly 
  been 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  inbred 
  for 
  from 
  25 
  to 
  

   30 
  years, 
  whilst 
  others 
  have 
  been 
  much 
  crossed 
  with 
  typical 
  forms, 
  

   and 
  others 
  recently 
  produced 
  by 
  selection. 
  In 
  other 
  words, 
  the 
  results 
  

   depend 
  upon 
  the 
  degree 
  of 
  domestication. 
  He 
  further 
  notes 
  the 
  

   crossing 
  of 
  typical 
  Lymantria 
  monacha 
  with 
  ab. 
  eremita, 
  and 
  compares 
  

   the 
  results 
  obtained 
  by 
  Standfuss 
  and 
  Fletcher. 
  The 
  forms 
  of 
  5. 
  lubrici- 
  

   peda, 
  as 
  occurring 
  in 
  the 
  reared 
  broods 
  in 
  this 
  country, 
  are 
  of 
  little 
  

   more 
  than 
  aberrative 
  value, 
  and 
  eremita 
  is 
  distinctly 
  an 
  aberration, 
  

   and 
  not 
  a 
  local 
  race. 
  Until 
  selection 
  for 
  some 
  years 
  had 
  been 
  carried 
  

   on, 
  one 
  cannot 
  but 
  conceive 
  that 
  the 
  results 
  produced 
  by 
  these 
  crossings 
  

   would 
  be 
  largely 
  vitiated 
  by 
  the 
  atavic 
  conditions 
  necessarily 
  arising 
  

   in 
  every 
  brood. 
  The 
  following 
  experimental 
  results 
  throw 
  7 
  some 
  light 
  

   on 
  the 
  points 
  here 
  dealt 
  with 
  : 
  — 
  

  

  1. 
  Spilosoma 
  zatima 
  S 
  x 
  zatima 
  $ 
  . 
  — 
  (a) 
  Eggs 
  received 
  from 
  Harrison 
  

   (inbred 
  zatima) 
  in 
  1892, 
  produced 
  larvas 
  and 
  pupa? 
  in 
  due 
  course, 
  27 
  

   imagines 
  appearing 
  in 
  April, 
  1893, 
  " 
  every 
  example 
  of 
  zatima 
  (radiata) 
  

   type, 
  each 
  true 
  to 
  heredity, 
  varying 
  in 
  intensity, 
  still 
  all 
  zatima 
  

   (radiata).'" 
  (j8) 
  Two 
  of 
  these 
  were 
  paired, 
  ova 
  obtained 
  in 
  April, 
  larvae 
  

   fed 
  up 
  in 
  May 
  and 
  June, 
  and 
  between 
  July 
  8th 
  and 
  end 
  of 
  September, 
  

   the 
  imagines 
  appeared, 
  "all 
  again 
  quite 
  true 
  to 
  parental 
  type, 
  some 
  

   almost 
  black,| 
  etc., 
  .... 
  the 
  great 
  point 
  of 
  interest 
  being 
  the 
  

   remarkable 
  manner 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  offspring 
  followed 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  

   parents 
  .... 
  Not 
  one 
  relapsed 
  into 
  the 
  normal 
  lubricipeda 
  

   form, 
  although 
  a 
  few 
  7 
  were 
  extremely 
  pale, 
  one, 
  particularly, 
  had 
  the 
  

   hindwing 
  very 
  closely 
  approaching 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  ab. 
  fasciata, 
  but 
  not 
  

  

  * 
  This 
  history 
  is 
  given 
  so 
  that 
  future 
  workers 
  may 
  know 
  of 
  the 
  uncertainty 
  of 
  

   the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  parent 
  of 
  some 
  thousands 
  of 
  specimens 
  since 
  bred, 
  and 
  the 
  

   descendants 
  of 
  which 
  are 
  in 
  numbers 
  in 
  all 
  our 
  collections. 
  

  

  f 
  It 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  noted 
  that 
  Harrison 
  (Trans. 
  Ent. 
  Soc. 
  Lond., 
  1892, 
  p. 
  xxix 
  ; 
  Ent., 
  

   xxvi., 
  p. 
  346) 
  gives 
  what 
  he 
  considers 
  the 
  parentage 
  of 
  the 
  zatima 
  he 
  bred, 
  and 
  that 
  

   he 
  took 
  no 
  part 
  in 
  trying 
  to 
  prove 
  their 
  British 
  origin. 
  This 
  was 
  attempted 
  by 
  

   Tugwell 
  {Ent., 
  xxvii., 
  pp. 
  96-97 
  ; 
  129-130 
  ; 
  205-206) 
  and 
  Hewett 
  (Ent., 
  xxviii., 
  pp. 
  

   3-8 
  ; 
  27-30) 
  whose 
  statements 
  are 
  all 
  purely 
  assumptive. 
  Harrison 
  wrote 
  us 
  that 
  

   he 
  obtained 
  pupae 
  from 
  several 
  sources, 
  and, 
  therefore, 
  there 
  appeared 
  room 
  for 
  

   error, 
  but 
  that 
  the 
  " 
  parentage 
  given 
  he 
  believed 
  to 
  be 
  correct." 
  

  

  + 
  We 
  learn 
  (Ent., 
  xxvii., 
  p. 
  206) 
  that 
  there 
  were 
  720 
  eggs 
  in 
  this 
  one 
  batch, 
  

   and 
  not 
  one 
  resultant 
  imago 
  went 
  down 
  so 
  low 
  in 
  the 
  series 
  towards 
  the 
  type 
  as 
  

   the 
  ab. 
  eboraci 
  (op. 
  cit., 
  p. 
  205, 
  fig. 
  3). 
  

  

  