182 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



darker cloud in the middle. The claviform 

 stigma not being distinct, the triangular 

 patch is not clearly defined in this species. 

 The hind margin of the fore wings is paler 

 than in any other species, and the fringe of 

 all wings is nearly white, streaked through 

 with darker in the fo'rewings only. This 

 species was first taken in Britain by the 

 Rev. A. H. Wratislaw in July, 1868. The 

 specimen was found at rest on Echium vulgare 

 (Viper's Bugloss) about ten miles from 

 Bury St. Edmonds. It is rather curious 

 that the first British specimen should have 

 been taken on JiJchium, which the captor 

 supposed to be its food-plant, for it was 

 named ' EoMi after the same plant as far 

 back as 1792. When the discovery of the 

 insect was announced in the Ento. M. Mag. 

 for February, 1869, the food-plant was 

 stated to be GypsopMl 0 ^Janicidata, which 

 is not a British plant. The following year, 

 however, the gentleman who took the first 

 specimen had the honour of discovering 

 the larva, and rearing the insect, the food 

 ia this country proving to be Sileiie Otitesi 

 (Spanish Catchfly), a rather scarce plant in 

 this country, and found only in Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, and Cambridge. Irregularis most 

 resembles E. ocJiroleuea, but the dark marks 

 are smaller and more numerous. 



Carpopaga. — Ground colour ochreous, 

 but not so pale as in the last species ; the 

 hind margin, a blotch near the anal angle, 

 and the margins of the stigmata are the 

 palest portions of the wing. It is a very 

 variable insect, southern specimens being 

 much paler than those taken in the north, 

 but the distinction between the ground 

 colour and the markings appears to be 

 equally preserved in most of cases, the dark 

 markings being proportionately darker when 

 the ground colour is darker. Some of the 

 specimens taken in the south are pale och- 

 reous, almost without markings. This 

 variety was called ochracea, by Haworth. 

 The female of this species has not nearly so 



extended an ovipositor as some of the genus, 

 and deposits its egg on the outside of the 

 capsule of Sile'ie injiata- The larva on 

 emerging eats its way through the capsule 

 and remains inside until it has eaten 

 out the whole of the contents. It then 

 comes out and conceals itself during 

 the day among the lower leaves, returning 

 at night to feed, when it may be found as 

 described above. Carpopliaga is tolerably 

 well distributed in England, occurs in Scot- 

 land, but not in Ireland. Newman says, 

 " the name occurs in the Irish list," I do 

 not know anything of this, but possibly the 

 next species was the insect so named. 



Capsophila. — Very similar to the last 

 species, but darker and not so much of an 

 ochreous brown in colour. Some have c:n- 

 sidered it to be merely an Irish form of 

 Carpo2}haga, and Mr. Birchall, who was in 

 a position to speak with some authority, sug- 

 gested that it might have "reached Ireland 

 by way of Scotland ; and that the effect of 

 insular conditions has been still further to 

 increase the divergence from the original 

 type of the mainland," From Ireland he 

 supposed it to have reached the Isle of Man, 

 where the specimens taken are still darker. 

 I have no personal experience of the matter, 

 and can only speak from my limited acquain- 

 tance with the species in my own and 

 other collections. The objection I see to 

 the suggestion, is that, as already said, in 

 Carpopliaga the paler and darker shades 

 preserve a relative proportion to each other, 

 whether the specimen be dark or light. In 

 Capsopliila, on the contrary, the paler mark- 

 ings are distinctly brighter, than they are 

 even in examples of Carpopliaga^ that are not 

 nearly so dark as those of the other species. 

 Besides this, Capsophila was first taken, not 

 in Ireland, but in Switzerland, and was 

 figured by Duponchel some years before it 

 was found in Ireland. It also occurs in 

 Spain and elsewhere. The Spanish speci- 

 mens are said to be nearly black with the 



