THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



101 



blotches are conjoined and the whole of the 

 hind wing is dark colored. We have a speci- 

 men with forewings exactly the same as this i 

 figure, but the hind wings are of the usual 

 form. Mr. Newman's variety 2 has the mid- 

 dle costal spot united with that on the hind 

 margin. A dark form with the spots united 

 is called Polaris, and an intermediate form is 

 called Turcica. The former inhabits the 

 polar regions ; the latter, Turkey and Asia 

 Minor. This is believed to be the var Ich- 

 jiusioides, De Selys. Another name is also 

 given in Kirby, Raschmirensis, Violl., inhabit- [ 

 ing Northern India, but we do not know how | 

 it differs. Two very extraordinary aberra- 

 tions are figured in " Les Peuille des Jeunes 

 Naturalistes " for January, 1881. One of them 

 was taken in Ireland and is called Osborni, 

 Done. The other is in the collection of Mr. 

 Ch. Donckier of Donceel, Liege, but it is not 

 known where it was taken. It is called 

 Selijsi, Done. We cannot too strongly depre- 

 cate the practice of giving a distinctive name 

 to every abnormal form, when as in these : 

 cases, but one specimen is known. Mr. 

 Mosley in his "Illustrations" figures a spe- 

 cimen from the Rev. Hirper Crewe's collec- 

 tion, in which the gi :nd color is a deep 

 mahogany brown, and another showing a 

 strong tendency to yellow, specimens with 

 perfectly yellow ground are in Mr. Gregson's 

 and other collections. We have one with 

 the ground Salmon-color, and another of a 

 very rich bright hue. This last we picked 

 out from a number flying to thistle flowers. 

 Its richer hue was very conspicuous on the 

 wing and the costal spots being extra large 

 and the yellow between them paler than 

 usual, the Butterfly was very noticeable. 

 We have seen no specimen otherwise normal, 

 in which the central spots are wanting but , 

 they are sometimes very small. It is a species j 

 that varies much in size, its usual size is i 

 about 2^ inches expanse, but we have one, 

 bred from larva found full fed, that expands 

 less than 1^ inches, and several nearly I 

 as small. 



Parasites. — We quoted a case (see Vol. 

 1, P. 94) where a French observer counted no 

 less than 228 small ichneumons that came 

 out of one chrysalis of this butterfly. 

 Mr. Porritt, of Huddersfield, subsequently 

 informed us he had noticed a similar thing, 

 but none of them were preserved, so the 

 species is not known. Ichneumon luctatorius 

 has been reared from it on the Continent, 

 and we have two other parasites on this 

 species in pupa at the present time. One of 

 them sent us by Mrs. Battersby, of Rathowen, 

 Ireland, is in a parti colored cocoon. The 

 other sent us by Mr. E. F. Nicholls, of 

 Coventry, is probably dipterous. 



DIFFICULTIES FOR 

 BEGINNERS. 



By John E. Robson, 

 No. 3.— APAMEA OCULEA. 



There is no insect of which so many speci- 

 mens are brought to name as of this protean 

 species. Beginners look doubtfully at you 

 when you pick three or four out of their 

 boxes, all very differently marked, and say, 

 ' these are Apamea oculea." "What, all of 

 them ? " " Yes, all of them." " And that 

 black one ? " "Yes, the black one is oculea 

 also." " And that very light one ? " " Yes, 

 they are all oculea, and you will find others 

 quite different to any of those." A look of 

 amazement, or grave doubt, steals over the 

 youth's face. He is not sure you are not 

 hoaxing him, for he can scarcely credit that 

 all those "good species" are the same insect. 

 Not very long ago, a young man brought two 

 extreme forms of oculea to name. After 

 naming them I said, "Did I not name you 

 some specimens like these before?" He 

 looked rather conscious, and after a moment's 

 hesitation said, "Yes, you named those before, 

 but I thought you had made a mistake, so I 

 brought them again," and even then he 

 seemed very dubious about it. 



Apamea oculea is so very variable, both in 



