iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



39 



Imago —This species has the anterior wings divided into two lobes, 

 the apex angular, the colour of a dark reddish-brown, with a small 

 dark streak near the centre of the costa ; a dark triangle towards the 

 apex, as in the species of the last genus ; a broad, dark fascia running 

 through both lobes, edged internally with whitish, externally with 

 ochreous ; fringes pale ; a lobe of black scales at the centre of the 

 inner margin, and another between this and the anal angle. Posterior 

 wings are divided into three plumules, and are of a greyish-brown 

 colour, the third plumule having a tuft of black scales on the inner 

 margin. Hiibner, in his " Schmetterlinge, &c.," Plate IX., Figs. 23 

 and 24, figures the type of this species. His Fig. 23 is a male. Fig. 24 

 a female. Fig. 23 may be described as having — "Anterior wings with 

 the apex acute, the ground colour very deep, dull brown, with a 

 reddish tinge ; a small lobe extends outwards on the inner margin of 

 the wing. Counting from the base to the apex, there are 5 black 

 costal streaks, the last terminating at the fissure ; a small, white, costal 

 dot just above the fissure is followed by a slender white line, parallel 

 to the hind margin which crosses the fissure. Hind wings — with the 

 three feathers dark blackish-brown — with a tuft of scales on the last 

 feather. Head, thorax, and abdomen the same colour as the wings." 

 Fig. 24 may be described as having — " Anterior wings of a lighter 

 brown, almost orange, with the markings more distinct ; hind wings 

 unicolorous brownish." Stainton's short diagnosis (" Manual," Vol. 

 II., p. 441) is : — "g'^-io^"' F.-W., reddish brown, with a dark brown 

 costal triangle before the fissure, followed by a yellowish streak ; a 

 slender yellowish fascia near the hind margin is preceded by a dark 

 blotch on each lobe ; third feather of hind wings with a black tuft 

 beyond the middle." 



Variation. — Besides the sexual dimorphism mentioned above, 

 there seems to be no striking development of variation in colour or 

 markings in our British specimens. Mr. Percy Russ, however, gets a 

 bright reddish-brown form, which may be this species, but of that I 

 am not satisfied. Mr. South — " Entomologist," XXII., p. 31 — appears 

 to describe the ^ , then a var. a., which would appear to be the ^ , 

 and lastly treats pun ctidacty la, or as he terms it, cosmodactyla, as a var. 

 h. This latter was probably done through insufficient information, 

 as he — vide " Entomologist," Vol. XVIII. , pp. 97, 98, and Vol. 

 XXII., pp. 31, 32, and 106 — appears to have had no personal ac- 

 quaintance whatever with the species. 



