Northern Enlomoloqical Society. 



G193 



Mr. Gregson read the following 



Notes on the Genus Oporahia, 



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

 Doubleday differs from me about Oporabia filigrammaria and O. aulumnaria (Z>. 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 ihey 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 insufficient or imaginary grounds. The evidence 

 which Mr. Doubleday brings to corroborate his opinion g:jes for nothing, because Mr. 

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

 auturanaria, 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 T am in error I shall 

 be ^lad 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 tvvo particular species differ 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 servitude ; and I feel sure both Mr. Doubleday and M. Guenee will 

 excuse ray differing from them, when I say that T have had the eggs and young larvae 

 of 0. filigrammaria from Wharrnton, near Oldham, and from the brushes near Staly 

 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 found by separating the lufts 

 of heath, and looking closely at the thickest stems, where it is difficult 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 always high up. Mr. 

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

 the Bolton collectors lake 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 look all his 

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

 I have a great objection to attempt to describe larvae 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 O. dilutaria, and I have often 

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



XVI. 2 X 



