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northern and central Europe, S.-W. France, N. Italy, Ural, Armenia, 
Altai, Issyk Ivul, Amur, W. and S.-W. China, Labrador, Ivamtchatka 
and North America generally. In the far north of Europe there are 
almost exclusively the darkened forms*; Schilde, writing of North 
Finland (Stett. Ent. Zeit., xxxv., p. 71), says “only in the smaller 
varying forms, var. gotlncata, Gn., and subhastata, Nolck.,” by the 
former of which he doubtless intends the form hofgreni, Lampa ; and 
Schoyen’s and Schneider’s experience for Arctic Norway has been 
practically the same. It seems to find its environment in these high 
latitudes particularly favourable, for Schoyen (Tronis. Mas. Aars., v., 
p. 35) has noted it as there the commonest of all Geometers, and 
Schneider (Ibid, xv., p. 83) records it as in incredible profusion in 
1883 and 1884, though (like most species in such regions) its 
abundance is only sporadic. “Like its relative hastata,” says 
Schneider, “it is entirely heliophil and visits flowers in the sunshine 
quite like a butterfly, at night I have found it sitting quite sluggish 
on stems and branches.Only on one single occasion have 
I noticed it flying of its own free will at night, namely in Harstad 
one charming July night in 1884.” By the way, as would be 
expected, it appears later in the summer than the hastata of the low¬ 
lands; Zetterstedt (Ins. Lapp., p. 961) even gives August as the month 
for Lapland (also, under the name of tristata, the end of July). 
The variation of Rheumaptera hastata is not easy to work out in 
detail; the very broken black pattern of the paler, or type forms, of 
course lends itself to an infinitude of permutations, and it would be 
ridiculous to endeavour to impose a varietal name on each different 
one with which one chanced to be acquainted. Mr. South has given 
a concise summary of the general trend of the variation in the 
Entomologist for 1892 (xxv., pp. 87-88). The darkened forms 
have suffered somewhat from over-naming, but I do not think any 
name has been proposed for those forms in which there is an abnormal 
suppression of the black. The following is the best scheme I can 
submit of the varieties and aberrations known to me :— 
1. Hastata Linn, (betularia Gladb.).—Central fascia of forewings 
more or less interrupted with white between veins 1 and 2, otherwise 
fairly normal in extent, outer white band unmarked (Haworth’s var. 
B—“ absque striga punctorum atrorum) or weakly dotted with black, 
subterminal line interrupted, hastate mark nearly always connected 
with outer white band. 
2. (var.) Subhastata Nolck. (-'tristata Strom, Nye Sami. Dansk. 
T id. Selsk. Skr., ii., p. 83, fig. 35, 1783, Zett., Ins. Lapp., p. 961; 
" hastulata Hb., Samml., fig. 356, 1796 ; hastata var., Newm., Brit. 
Moths, p. 157 cum fiy., 1869 ; nigrescens Ckll., Entom., xxii., p. 75, 
1889; sagittifera Gmppbg., Nova Acta, liv., p. 292, 1890; ?continuata 
Fuchs, Jabrb. Nass. Ver. Nat., liv., p. 56, 1901, sec. Pimg. in litt.).— 
Generally smaller, central fascia hardly ever completely interrupted, 
outer band traversed (generally on both pairs of wings) by a series of 
dark dots, not infrequently joining to form a continuous line, hastate 
mark nearly always separated from hand by a dark line, subterminal 
* Further south these tend to become restricted to the mountains, and in 
some places to be more aberrational than varietal. Borne writers indicate the two 
forms, hastata and subhastata, as occuring together, others as never doing so; 
probably both observations may be right, according to the local circumstances. 
