RUMICIA PHLjEAS. 365 



jui. ab. faseiata, Streck., "Butts, and Moths Nth. Amer.," p. 101 (1878); [? Scudd., 

 " Butts. New Engl.," ii., pp. 1000-1, in part (1889) ;] South, " Entom.," xxvi., p. 305 

 (1893). Phlaeas var., Weston, " Entom.," xi., p. 25 and fig. (1878). Fasciatus, CklL, 

 " Entom.," xxii., p. 99 (1889) ; " Ent. Rec," i., p. 320 (1899) ; ix., p. 331 (1897). 

 — ¥ . All the black spots on the uppersurface of primaries, save one within the 

 discoidal cell, are enormously enlarged and confluent, forming a broad, somewhat 

 irregular, black band extending from costa to the inner margin. Undersurface 

 exactly as in common form. Florida (Strecker). 



The character of ab. faseiata by which it is to be distinguished, 

 is that all the spots on the upper surface of the forewings, except 

 the one in the cell further towards the base, unite to form the 

 central transverse band. The outer discal cellular spot is lost 

 by union with the transverse series, the members of which 

 are enlarged and moved towards the centre of the wing. This 

 character is excellently shown in the figure in the Entom., xi., 

 p. 25. As we have just observed (supra), Scudder describes (Butts. 

 Neiv England, ii., pp. 1000-1001) as faseiata, certain specimens in 

 which, " in the row of spots in the outer half of the wing, each 

 spot, though perfectly distinct from the others, is expanded a very 

 little exteriorly, and very much interiorly ; the spots beyond the 

 cell joining that which borders the outer limits of the same; those 

 in the median interspaces extending nearly, or quite, to the base 

 of the interspaces, and that of the medio-submedian interspace, in 

 one instance, as long as broad, and in the other twice as long as broad, 

 instead of being, as normally, half as long as broad. On the under- 

 surface, the wings have the normal pattern," etc. This form clearly is 

 not the true faseiata. It is remarkable that the true faseiata form was 

 renamed, quite independently, by Cockerell, who applied the same 

 name as had Strecker, to the fasciated insect described and figured by 

 Weston (Entom., xi., p. 25). This figure has all the spots comprised 

 in the transverse submarginal row of the forewings concentrated 

 into a thick continuous transverse band, stretching across the wing, 

 the discoidal spot being entirely absorbed therein ; the hindwings 

 marked as usual ; the markings on the underside entirely normal, 

 without showing the slightest trace of the black band so conspicuous 

 on the upperside. The specimen was taken at Finchley, August 7th, 

 1876. Hodge notes an example with the spots of the forewings confluent, 

 resulting in a rather distinct crescent-shaped mark on each forewing, 

 taken at Eastbourne, July, 1881. Lusby captured a specimen at High 

 Beech, with the black marks on the forewings forming a group in the 

 centre of the disc. Harwood ( Vict. Count. Hist. Essex) says that black- 

 banded examples have been found at various times on the coast of Essex. 

 South observes (Ent., xxvi., p. 305) that we sometimes find examples 

 with the spots much larger than usual and often tending to confluence. 

 The extreme limit to this phase, he says, in the variation of this insect, 

 " appears to be reached in var. faseiata, Strecker ; in the Entom., 

 1878, p. 25, is a figure of a banded example of C. jyldaeas, taken in 

 Middlesex, which is certainly the form described by Strecker," and 

 he adds that "intermediates between var. faseiata and the type are not 

 rare in Britain ; Mr. Sabine captured three examples this year, in 

 all of which the black spots are very large, and those of the transverse 

 series inclined to coalesce ; the outer discal spot in one example is 

 almost united with the fourth spot of the transverse series ; in another 

 specimen, the third and fifth spots of the transverse series are pyriform." 



