THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



43 



H. S., 4, v., p. 369 (?) ; Frey, 406 (?) ; Ulodactyla, Zett. Ins. Lap., 

 1012. Cosmodactyla, Hb. 35, 36 (?). 



It appears next to impossible to rely on the synonymy of this 

 species, as it is so very doubtful whether Hiibner's cosmodactyla has 

 anything to do with Haworth's puiictidactyla, and hence the difficulty 

 of unravelling what species the respective authors refer to. In the 

 "Entomologist's Record," Vol. I., p. 93, I wrote: — "Of late years this 

 has been treated as synonymous with Hiibner's cosmodactyla, but, in 

 my opinion, erroneously. Wocke, of course, dropped Haworth's name 

 as a synonym of Hiibner's. The two great characters of our pimctid- 

 actyla are : — (i) The green colour of the wings ; (2) The falcate apices 

 of the anterior wings. I have carefully studied Hiibner's cosmodactyla 

 (Figs. 35 and 36), which are without the characteristic colour, and ap- 

 pear to represent a much more stumpy species even than acantJiodactyla. 

 How anyone can make Hiibner's figure satisfy Haworth's description 

 [vide below) is beyond my comprehension ! " So far as I have been 

 able to discover, punctidactyla has never been found off Stachys sylvatica 

 in Britain, whilst the Continental cosmodactyla has been bred from 

 seeds oi Aquilegia, Geranium, &c., and when Professor Frey bred our 

 form from Stachys sylvatica, the specimens were so different from ordi- 

 nary cosmodactyla, and yet so constant, inter se, that he called them var. 

 stachydalis ; his only reason for keeping it as a var. of the Continental 

 cosmodactyla being, that he had once bred a similar example from 

 Aquilegia. This is not, at all striking, even if cosmodactyla {the A quilegia- 

 feeding species) be considered distinct from punctidactyla (the Stachys- 

 feeding species), for all closely allied species have, occasionally, similar 

 forms in parallel ranges of variation. Mr. Stainton says that punctid- 

 actyla. Haw. = cosmodactyla, Frey and Stand., but judiciously leaves 

 out Hiibner's name. 



Imago — This species has the anterior wings divided into two 

 lobes, with the apex much produced ; the colour, olivaceous-grey, with 

 the markings much as in the last species. The posterior wings are 

 divided into three plumules, dark grey in colour, and with a tuft of 

 black scales on the inner margin of the third plumule. Haworth's 

 diagnosis Lepidoptera Britannica," p. 479) is as follows : — ^^Alucita, 

 Alls anticis virescenti-cinereis albido nebulosis, punctis costalibus 

 numerosis, strigaque postica obsoleta, albis." "iVlae anticae bifidae, 

 posticae tripartitae atrae," whilst in Stainton's " Manual"' p. 441, we 



