Northern Enlomological Society. G193 



Mr. Gregson read the following 



Notes on the Genus Oporahia. 



"In a late number of the 'Zoologist' (Zool. 6103) my esteemed friend Mr, 

 Doubledaj differs from me about Oporahia filigrammaria and 0. aulumuaria {D. L.) 

 being distinct species, and says he thinks Guenee correct when he unites these two 

 species under the name of O. filigrammaria. It is with great reluctance that I ven- 

 ture to say I am at issue with these two profound naturalists, and, under ordinary 

 circumstances, I should at once give way to the opinion of such men ; but in the pre- 

 sent case, believing that they have founded their opinion upon superficial observation 

 of the perfect insects, whilst I form mine upon early stages and well-known economy 

 of these species, I am compelled, much against my will, to protest against this 

 desire to cut down species upon insufBcient or imaginary grounds. The evidence 

 which Mr. Doubleday brings to corroborate his opinion gjes for nothing, because Mr. 

 Edleslon, the gentleman to whom he refers, does not know the species we take as O. 

 autumnaria, the specimen in his cabinet under that name being most unquestionably 

 a large example of O. dilutaria. To coincide with clever men is generally a safe game, 

 but the best err sometimes, and I think this is an instance. If I am in error I shall 

 be glad to admit and correct it when I find it out, or when it is shown to me ; but I 

 do not feel warranted in giving way because men who have had less opportunity than 

 I have had to observe the habits of these two particular species diflfer from me, even 

 though they be, as they unquestionably are, infinitely my superiors in entomological 

 knowledge: there is a certain amount of self-respect which says do not always yield ; 

 form an opinion of your own, and act upon it ; respect for our friends ought not to 

 degenerate into serv itude ; and I feel sure both Mr. Doubleday and M. Guenee will 

 excuse my differing from them, when I say that I have had the eggs and young larva) 

 of 0. filigrammaria from Wharmton, near Oldham, and from the brushes near Slaly 

 Bridge, and have also taken the species on Moel Varna in North Wales, always in 

 situations where heath and Vaccinium grow on mountains, and have never met with 

 it on low ground. It is a common species, and may be ft)und by separating the tufts 

 of heath, and looking closely at the thickest stems, where it is difBcult to see ; none 

 but a practised eye would suspect the small protuberance on the stem to be a moth. 

 It appears in August and early in September, and comes out of pupa from 4 to 

 6 P.M., and where there are fir trees, as at Wharmton, it may be found in copula upon 

 them about 5 p.m. I never found it in copula upon heath. My friend J. B. Hodg- 

 kinson takes it upon the highest parts of Longridge, near Preston ; Mr. Garlick, of 

 Leeds, who has taken great numbers of this species, says alsvays high up. Mr. 

 Almond also found it on the mountains. Mr. Hague has taken it in numbers, and 

 the Bolton collectors take it on the moors, preferring the highest walls they can find, 

 for though they may find a single specimen on the lower walls, as is sometimes done 

 going up to the brushes, this seems only just to prove the rule. Weaver took all his 

 filigrammaria on the mountains. Thus filigrammaria is always a mountain insect. 

 I have a great objection to attempt to describe larva? from memory, and shall there- 

 fore let this part of the subject stand over. The insect we take at Delamere Forest 

 and elsewhere as O. autumnaria of Doubleday's List is a wood insect, and has been 

 bred by Mr. Greening from larvae found upon oak; it is a much larger insect, and 

 always appears late in September and October, with 0. dilutaria, and I have often 

 taken it during the two first weeks in November. The elongate form of the under 



XVI. 2 X 



