2i 4 THE YOUNG NATURALIST. [0cTO b«r 



Varieties of Arctia mendica. — Mr. Porritt has favoured me 

 with a sight of the proof of a plate of the wonderful varieties of this 

 species he has reared during the past two years, from ova obtained 

 from truly wild females taken in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield, 

 and which have already been alluded to in the reports of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London. The 1888 specimens figured consist of 

 six females and two males. The males are blacker than any I have 

 met with, and have a peculiar reddish tinge. The spots are very dis- 

 tinct and large, with a tendency to run into streaks and rays. The 

 females are much more spotted with black, and are tinged with cream 

 colour aiong the costa and at the base of the wings. The markings 

 on one of them are much like extreme forms of Lubricepeda (not 

 var. Zatima). But those of the present year diverge from the typical 

 form much more than the 1888 specimens. In a general way the spots 

 on the wings of Mendica are both few in number and very incon- 

 spicuous. In some of these extraordinary varieties, the spots are both 

 numerous and very large. In others they run into streaks and blotches, 

 one having a long black streak extending along the inner margin, from 

 the anal angle to the base. The most extreme specimen has the 

 ground nearly all suffused with black scales. Four of the eight 1889 

 females figured have the row of spots across the wing, in the style 

 of Lubricepeda as named above. Another peculiarity in these is that 

 the hind- wings have a row of spots round the hind margin. In that 

 mentioned above as having a streak along the inner margin, the 

 hind-wing has a row of streaks or blotches rather than spots. In 

 the hundreds of specimens of this insect I have bred or captured, I 

 have never had but one with a distinct row of marginal spots on the 

 hind-wing, and these are not nearly so conspicuous as upon the least 

 marked of Mr. Porritt's varieties. In two of his specimens the hind- 

 wings are much suffused. Mr. Porritt tells me each female deposited 

 less than fifty eggs. There are eighteen varieties depicted in the plate, 

 a very large proportion certainly, though he is of opinion that the nor- 

 mal form of the species does not occur at Huddersfield. What a 

 singular thing it is that while the Irish specimens appear to be losing 

 their dark scales altogether, the males being cream-coloured at most, 

 these Huddersfield forms are tending to absolute melanism in both 

 sexes. J fear my words will convey but a faint idea of these marvel- 

 lous specimens, but I could not let the opportunity pass without try- 

 ing to describe them. — J. E. Robson, Hartlepool. 



