38 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [February 



' I separated the larvae quite easily before the moths were bred, at any 

 rate, the two forms of larvae produced the two forms of the moth, and 

 vide " Entom. Mo. Mag." of Nov. 1886, and of Dec, 1885 ' (in litt.) ;" 

 and in answer to a query as to whether Mr. South would tell us why 

 he placed them together, he wrote : "I cannot see any good and 

 sufficient reason for separating them," and, I presume, considered that 

 this statement would weigh wdth scientists against Mr. Porritt's prac- 

 tical knowledge. I shall, therefore, follow Mr. Porritt's conclusion, 

 and treat them as distinct species. 



Another difficulty remains. We have gradually become accustomed 

 to call our punctidactyla, Haw., the cosniodactyla of Hiibner. 1 fail to 

 see the slightest resemblance. The greenish or olivaceous tint, which 

 characterises Haworth's species, is totally absent in Hiibner's figure 

 (" Schmet." IX., 35-36) of the type, wnich may be described as follows : 

 " 5 Anterior wings with the costa much arched and apex pointed. 

 Colour, reddish-brown, wdth 5 pale, yellowish, costal streaks ; the 

 costa itself darker ; a pale yellow line, parallel to hind margin, runs 

 through the end of fissure, with another parallel to it, between it and 

 the hind margin ; both of these pale lines internally edged with black ; 

 the outer edge (beyond the outer pale line) greyish. Posterior wings 

 dark brown, fringes shaded with greyish, and a black tuft on the third 

 plumule." Fig. 36 is the under side of Fig. 35. My owm remark is : 

 " This represents a shorter, broader- winged, and hence stumpier insect 

 altogether than acantliodactyla, and in no way appears to represent our 

 punctidactyla.'''' If we have Hiibner's cosniodactyla at all, the name 

 must be applied to the bright specimens obtained by Mr. Russ, which 

 more nearly represent the coloration of Hiibner's cosniodactyla than 

 anything else that I have seen ; but I should not like to say that the 

 Sligo specimens really represent Hiibner's cosniodactyla, or were any- 

 thing more than a very distinct local race of acanthodactyla. 



A. acanthodactyla, Hb. — This species is comparatively common 

 both on the Continent and in Britain. It is a very distinct species, 

 and hence has suffered but little at the hands of our synonymists. 



Synonymy. — Acanthodactyla, Hb., " Schmet." IX., 23-24 ; Treit. 

 IX., 2. 234; H.-S. 5, v., p. 369; Zell. " Isis" (1841), 784, "Linn. 

 Ent. Zeit.," VI., 338 ; Dup. XL, 313,6; Tgstr. Bidrag, 155; Frey 

 405. Calodactyla, Fab. Ent. Syst., 3, 2, 346 ; Haw. 478 ; Stephs. 

 111., IV. 376 ; Wood 1646. 



