October 1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



197 



The Pterophorina of Britain. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 

 (Continued from page iyg.) 



A. bennetii, Curt. — 



Synonymy — A. bennetii, Curt. Brit. Ent., X., 471 ; Stephens' Illus. 

 IV., 370 ; Wood, 1625. 



Imago — Curtis not only describes this species but gives an excel- 

 lent coloured drawing of the imago in his " British Entomology," 

 Vol. X., 471. This figure has ochreous costal and inner margins, a 

 grey, somewhat wedge-shaped area to outer margin, with four black 

 dots on the disc. His original description is : — " Ground colour red- 

 dish cinereous, sometimes with an ochreous tint ; eyes black, superior 

 wings with four dark spots on each, one towards the base, another 

 nearer the middle, and two beyond it approaching the posterior angle ; 

 abdomen of female with five or six pairs of black dots down the 

 back." I find the costa is very rarely sprinkled with ochreous as in 

 the type, and as I had, previous to getting Curtis' description, made 

 out the following one, I append it : — " Forewings entire, much arched 

 near the apex which is pointed ; colour, shiny grey, the costal and 

 inner margins much sprinkled with white scales, a line drawn from 

 the apex of the wing to the base of the median nervure, and another 

 from the base to the outer margin (at about one-half between the apex 

 and anal angle) would enclose a wedged-shaped space, much more 

 sparsely scaled than the rest of the wing and not sprinkled with the 

 whitish scales of the costal and inner margins ; in the costal area are 

 two or three short blackish streaks and directly along the base of the 

 fold are four black dots stretching longitudinally across the wing, fringe 

 rather lighter and more shiny than the ground colour. Hind wings 

 entire, the same colour as the fore- wings, nervures rather darker, no 

 markings, fringe paler, very shiny, and distinctly marked with a dark 

 line passing through it parallel to the hind margin." Stainton's short 

 pointed description is as follows : — " 1". F.-w. greyish, more or less 

 tinged with ochreous with four blackish dots along the fold " (" Man- 

 ual," Vol. II., p. 440). 



Variation — The type is as pointed out above, more or less suffused 

 with ochreous, others are entirely grey, and many are destitute of 

 the black streaks and spots ^mentioned above ; the number of these 

 latter varies much in different specimens. 



Time of Appearance — This species is double-brooded, although 

 in the " Manual " only July is given, which is also the only date in 



