222 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



. APTEROUS FEMALES. 

 HELPLESS FEMALES! NATURALISTS TO THE RESCUE ! ! 



My Dear Editor, 



I am glad to see another knight take up the cause of the unfortu- 

 nate wingless females, about which a great deal has been written but about 

 which a great deal more remains to be written before this knotty point is 

 solved. 



Mr. Cross speaks of P. pilosaria and H. defoliaria as not having " even 

 a stump nor the slightest evidence that there has ever been one," almost 

 quoting word for word what Mr. Stainton says in his Manual ; and, to the 

 casual observer, they have no wings, but, for such a keen observer as Mr. 

 Cross I am surprised at such a statement, and really, Sir, I must beg most 

 emphatically to state that they have stumps, which I doubt not, at one time 

 have been wings. So astonished was I at his assertion, " slightest evidence " 

 indeed, that I immediately went home, perusing the remaining contents of 

 the Y.N, on the way, and spent several hours at the microscope hunting for 

 wings. I think I can see the quiet grin that will light up Mr. Cross's face 

 when he reads this, and hear him say " if it takes him several hours to find a 

 wing on the female they must indeed be small " but, not so, I had no diffi- 

 culty in finding a wing, in fact four wings, on both P. pilosaria and H. 

 defoliaria, and the rest of the time was spent in examining other helpless 

 females, which resulted in my making the following notes on the spot. 



1. H % defoliaria. — Female wings very small, scaled, with scale cilia, no 

 veins. 



2. P. pilosaria. — Females wings very small, scaled, with hair cilia. 



3. N. zonaria. — Female wings scaled very thinly, but clothed with hair 

 emitted from all parts of both wings ; when denuded there are slight traces 

 of thick veins. 



4. 0. antiqua. — Female wings larger, densely clothed with hair, under 

 which are smaller scales than in the male, when denuded the veins are dis- 

 tinctly visible, but in what shape? Instead of being straight, like fully 

 developed wings, they are all twisted and zigzag, reminding one of a cork- 

 screw flattened. 



5. C. brumata. — Female wings thickly scaled, hair cilia, scales larger 

 than in the male. 



6. H. aurantiaria. — Thickly scaled, hair cilia. 



7. H. progemmaria. — Scaled and veined, cilia has scales and hair mixed. 

 I think this will prove that P. pilosaria and H. defoliaria have stumps. 



and pretty good evidence that they have orginally been wings. In three- 



