THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



19 



with more reddish shading, a shade from the costa to the end of the 

 fissure in anterior wings as in the male, another nearer apex of wing and 

 another nearer the body. Hind wings dark greyish. 



Haworth describes his pallidactyla as : — "Alis anticis ochroleucis, 

 nebulis aliquot saturatioribus". " Alae anticae bifida?: posticae tripartita: 

 fusco-ochraceae." (" Lepidoptera Britannica." p. 478, No. 11). 

 This is in my opinion bertrami. Haworth's next description, No. 12 that 

 of migadactyla is referred by Dr. Wocke, to this species, but it seems 

 to me to refer rather to another species, spUodachtylus, for Haworth says 

 it: — "Corpus album. Posticae fuscae. Pedes albi, fusco maculati." 

 Certainly the two first characters would not agree with ochrodactyla, 

 the last may have misled Dr. Wocke. Mr. Stainton writes of Muhlig's 

 dichrodactylus ;- "apex of the wings more prolonged, more falcate than 

 in bertrami , and the brown scales on the hind margin of the third feather 

 of the hind wings more distinct ; dichrodactylus has the tibiae brown 

 at the middle and apex, and there is a brown spot at the end of the 

 first tarsal joint, (" Entomologist's ^Monthly Magazine" Vol. II., p.p. 

 137, 138.) In the ("Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. XVIII., 

 p. 144), Mr. Sang writes : — " The colouring of the bred dichrodactylus is- 

 in water colour nomenclature — nearly pure Indian yellow, clearly 

 marked and streaked with a pale shade of the same colour, and with the 

 few costal and fringe markings and spots, dark brown to black, the mark 

 ings clear and decided, with invariably a very clear, small, black 

 spot just below the fissure, in some examples also one above, united 

 by a brown shade as in serotinus. ," 



Variation. — There is very little variation in this species, except in 

 depth of coloration and this is generally due to exposure and conse- 

 quent fading. The black spot or spots at the end of the fissure is 

 in some specimens much less clear than in others. 



Time of Appearance. — The time of appearance of this species in a 

 state of nature is in the latter part of July and August, but when bred 

 under artificial conditions, it occurs much earlier. Thus Mr. Stainton 

 says: — u Dichrodactylus feeds on tansy in July, and the moth appears in 

 August," while in the next paragraph he says, "I have only a single 

 bred specimen of dichrodactylus, this was bred from a pupa on tansy at 

 Chudleigh in June, 1850, and which appeared in the perfect state on 

 July 5th," ("Entomologist's Monthly Magazine" Vol. II., p. 137). Mr. 

 Buckler bred his specimens from 28th June to July 5th in 1875, ("Ento. 

 Monthly Mag." Vol. XII., p. 234), while Messrs. Porritt and Dennis took 

 the species in a ravine at Saltburn in August (the second week), thus 



