iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



German lepidopterists may have two species in their collections under 

 the one name. At any rate it is a matter worthy of attention. 



Imago. — Professor Zeller's description of this species agrees 

 (as is to be expected) with the specimens in Mr. C. G. Barrett's 

 cabinet (from Zeller) and those captured by Mr. Webb, and not 

 with the form represented by my Thuringian example, I am greatly 

 indebted to Mr. Webb for the comparisons he has drawn between 

 his specimens on the one hand, and teucrii and distans on the 

 other. Zeller's description of pilosellce is : — " Alls anterioribus minus 

 quam ad medium fissis rufescenti cinnamoneis, laciniis albido-bistri- 

 gatis, ciliis dorsalibus ante apicem laciniae posterioris lineam albidam 

 indistinctam in basi gerentibus ; digito tertis cinnamones, paulo ante 

 apicem utriusque atro-squamato $ )" (" Linnsea Entomologica," 

 Vol. VI., p. 349). Writing to Mr. Webb and pointing out that I had 

 a Thuringian example differing from his specimens, he courteously 

 answered : — " I do not think there is any mistake this time, but that 

 the insect I have is the true pilosellce, although it may differ somewhat 

 from your Thuringian example. Some of the reddish brown ones I 

 took were quite indistinguishable from Gregson's old Mickleham 

 specimens, and identical with Sheppard's too. When fresh out they 

 are nearer the colour of teucrii. Colour, size, tuft and silveryness of 

 the markings all vary in individuals, the most constant and best 

 characters being (i) The ochreous pale fringes of the second lobe. (^2) 

 The absence of any white feathers (best seen in teucrii) on the inner 

 margin of the first lobe. (3) The absence of the two minute black 

 tufts on the inner margin opposite the fissure. (4) The tuft on the 

 third plumule of hind wing not extending on both sides of the shaft. 

 (^5) The particularly narrow wings, narrower than z^^z/tm. (6) The first 

 facia crossing the lobes of the fore wings is always composed of a line, 

 not a blotch as it so frequently is in teucrii. (7) There is a contrast 

 in colour between the fore and hind wings, whilst teucrii has them 

 almost identical in hue. (8) Underneath, the first digit of the hind 

 wing is not so mottled in teucrii but has a much more elongated and dis- 

 tinct white spot near the a.pex'' {in litt.). Comparing the Dover pilosellce 

 with distans, Mr. Webb writes Pilosellce is not so pale a colour or so 

 coarsely scaled as distans, but comes nearer to it in the width of the 

 wing ; some specimens come very near the latter species, but there 



*This is what struck me when I saw Mr. Webb's series, and it is this that gives it 

 each a different facies to niy Thuringian example. — J.W.T. 



