154 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



Esper., but only that it is certainly Meliloti. The importance of the inser- 

 tion of the name " Esper " by Mr. Tugwell will at once be seen. 



Mr. Doubleday then proceeds to give almost word for word the description 

 of the larva which Boisduval gives as Esper' s, but which really is different 

 from Esper's own description. 



Doubleday also says of our insect, " wings more pointed than Trifolii" and 

 speaking of the upper of the two intermediate spots says, " always oval or 

 oblong" thus flatly contradicting Esper' s description, (maculis 5 rotundatus) but 

 following Boisduval' s so closely as to make it evident, that he all the time was 

 merely quoting from Boisduval, and was neither acquainted with Esper's de- 

 scription, nor was describing our Meliloti, for as Mr. Gregson (Y.N. Vol. 8, p. 

 229) very truly says of our insect, the wing has a rounder point than Trifolii, 

 which is plainly the fact, and although, as he so well puts it, the general ap- 

 pearance of the two is like that of " a race horse to a carriage horse," yet we 

 must not forget that a race horse and a carriage horse, are after all but forms 

 of one species. 



Again, Esper's description of the larva is utterly different from anything 

 ever recorded from the New Eorest. Will not Mr. Tugwell, even at this late 

 period, tell us whether the description of his larvae of 1872-3, or that of the 

 solitary unknown larva found by him (Y.N, p. 100), accords with that of 

 Esper (not Boisduval) or not, and whether his eggs were perceptibly larger 

 than those of Trifolii, 



At page 54 of the present volume Mr. Tugwell says. " Under any con- 

 dition, the New Forest Trifolii has such settled differences from normal 

 Trifolii that it is desirable for it to be a named form." Accepting his sug- 

 gestion, and provisionally on its being distinct from Meliloti Esper, I named 

 it Ttenensis (p. 82), yet now (p. 132) Mr. Tugwell says, that even if proved 

 to be distinct from Meliloti Esper, it should still stand as var. Meliloti Esper. 

 I confess I fail to follow his argument. Exulis is beyond the discussion 

 and no one has contended that the imagines of the Zygsenidae require shade ; 

 the question is the difference produced in the larvse of Trifolii that feed upon 

 plants growing is exposed dry places from those feeding in sheltered moist 

 places. 



One word more. Mr. Tugwell is doubtless speaking within his own 

 knowledge in saying that over zeal in collecting has destroyed our New Forest 

 Meliloti. But that is not the question under discussion, which is — What is 

 our New Forest Meliloti and, if a form of Trifolii, what produced it in the 

 New Forest ? 



55, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 

 15th July, 1888. 



