46 
of the reddish colouring, and with rather dark hindwings, which is there 
labelled “ var. olivescens, Warr.” (MS.).* 
With Sandberg’s “ var. schneideri ” I am in nearly the same diffi¬ 
culty, on account of the inability of most entomologists to discriminate 
between the two species, and my own lack of sufficient familiarity with 
the northern forms.* It seems to be either the nearly unicolorous dark 
form of truncata, or possibly a parallel phrase in citrata ; I regard 
it provisionally as the former, and sink to it ah. niyerrimata, Fuchs ; 
in arranging the British Museum collection, Mr. Warren proposed the 
name of ab. fuliyinosa for the same form (chiefly from Lancashire), 
but I do not think that this has been published. I have some nice 
examples of it from Wolverhampton, and have seen it from Yorkshire, 
and other parts of the country (compare Barrett, pi. 356, fig. lcand ly). 
Kane ( F.ntom., xxxi., p. 87) says that Irish truncata “seems to be a 
very sober-tinted form,” and probably includes this extreme form in 
his conception of “ var. perfuscata, Haw.” “ Var. schneideri ” was 
originally described as “ blackish blue-grey, the forewings without a 
trace of rust colour, excepting a faint indication beyond the middle of 
the wing, and the hindwings darkened, almost of the same colour of 
the forewings ; ” Schneider took one at Mennika-jok in 1882, in 1883 
it was common at the upper end of Langfjord in meadows, woods, and 
marshes, and apparently constitutes a constant local form, or “ var.” 
Ab. nigerrimata is “ unicolorous, smoky-black, with the markings 
obsolete, an indistinct admixture of rust-brown in the basal and 
marginal areas, the hindwings blackish ash-grey, as also the under¬ 
side.” The extreme form was from Elberfeld, a transitional form from 
Oberursel in the Taunus. Strand (Ni/t. May. I id., xxxix., p. 61) uses 
“ var. schneideri ” correctly for forms in which the rust-colour is 
obsolescent, but does not confine it, as I have imagined Sandberg to 
do, to unicolorous dark forms; he allows the median area to be “nearly 
unicolorous grey, yet a little lighter in the middle,” or “greyish- 
white” ( i.e ., something near ab. satnrata, Steph.), and cites three 
examples from Tysfjord. If he is right, ab. niyerrimata will be 
separated for the really melanic form, and var. schneideri will very 
possibly sink to var. infuscata. Even the most melanic forms have 
very generally tw'o conspicuous white dots or dashes on the basal half 
of the inner margin, as shown in Barrett, pi. 356, figs, lc and 1 j: I 
have noticed nothing quite parallel in citrata. 
Cidaria citrata (Linn.). 
Coming now to Cidaria citrata = immanata, I have, by the kind aid 
of Rev. E. D. Morice, made out Linne’s somewhat difficult description 
to signify: 
Phalaena Geometra citrata. —Antenna? simple, wings grey, with a 
white-fulvous subterminal spot, and a white stripe, in the apex a 
fuscous line. Lives on leaves of Citrus, which it eats by night. Larva 
a pale green looper (Rolander). Size of Phalaena piniaria. Forewings 
* Since this paper was read an important article, unfortunately in Russian, 
has been published by Bloecker (Rev. Russ., viii., No. 1, pp. 44-49, pi. i.) in which 
he claims that infuscata = schneideri and also latefasciata , Sigr., are distinct 
species. His evidence seems gool in the case of the latter, but 1 am more dubious 
regarding infuscata. 
xviii. 
