EDWARDSIA W-ALBU1I. 149 



ence in the size of the specimens ; and Newnham notes (Ent. 

 Rec, vi., p. 33) that a 2 , reared from a larva fed on ash, was 

 only -875in. in expanse. The influence of food on the size of 

 imagines reared in captivity is very great ; a good supply of the 

 freshest possible food being necessary, if the specimens are to be 

 reared of anything like full size. As a result, almost all reared 

 examples are more or less dwarfed, owing to the tendency for the food 

 to wither in confinement, and the fact that the larvae also, as a rule, 

 mature much more rapidly. There is also a certain amount of differ- 

 ence in the size of the small orange-red spot at the anal angle of the 

 hindwing noticeable, but the difference is usually slight. The eastern 

 races appear to be considerably larger than the western. There are, in 

 the British Museum Collection, two very large $ s, taken June 14th, 1866, 

 on the Parnassus (Merlin Coll.); a normal sized $ and large 2 , taken in 

 the Caucasus in June, 1882, by Bramson (Elwes Coll.) ; and a large 2 

 from Macri, labelled "Ms, 1847, p. 7 (Zell. Coll.)." In the size 

 variation, we should call all specimens less than 28mm. = ab. minor, 

 n. ab., and those above 35mm. = ab. major. Those with the little 

 orange-red anal spot entirely absent might be called ab. obsoleta, n. ab. 

 On the underside, however, there is considerable minor variation, 

 noticeable — (1) In the shade of the ground colour, varying from 

 fuscous-brown to fawn-brown. (2) In the width of the white trans- 

 verse line, especially towards the costa of the forewing, and in the 

 amount of its obsolescence towards the inner margin. (3) In the 

 failure of the white W on the hind wings, especially towards the lower 

 angular points. (4) In the width of the orange band. (5) In the 

 intensity of the colour of the orange band. (6) In the amount of 

 black edging to the orange lunules. (7) In the amount of white 

 scales present in the black marginal arches towards the anal angle. 

 The actual amount of variation, however, on the whole, is small, and 

 the form with the white W more or less obsolete at the lower points 

 is the only named aberration, having been described as butleroiui by 

 Kroulikowsky. Eaynor says of the Hazeleigh specimens: "Instead 

 of being uniform in width, the transverse white line on the underside 

 of the forewings is occasionally much broader in its upper part, where 

 it touches the costal margin." Bromilow notes examples with a broad 

 white line on the underside of the hindwings, taken at Nice, Cannes, 

 etc. An occasional aberration, however, occurs, in which the median 

 area of the hindwing, between the outer edge of the transverse white 

 line forming the W and that edging the orange band, is filled with 

 white scales, making a white median transverse band across the hind- 

 wing, as suggested in pi. i., fig. 4. This has been already described by 

 Bellier. We may here note the description as : 



a. ab. albovirgata, n. ab. W-album var., Bell., "Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.," p. 704 

 (1858); Xewm., " Brit. Butts.," p. 108, fig. 3 var. (1870).— This accidental aberration 

 is one of the most remarkable that I have ever seen, and one is astonished to meet 

 with it in a species so little given to variation. The four wings present below a 

 wide white band, on which the nervures show clearly, and which occupies, on the 

 hindwings, the whole space comprised between the white line and the fulvous band ; 

 on the forewings it has an equal width. The upperside is typical. Captured June, 

 1857, in the Forest of Bondy, by M. Blondel (Bellier). 



Webb is stated by Mosley to have an example of this form, taken 

 in the Old Hall Wood, Ipswich, in 1859 (see also Newman, British 



