37 
but says such an occurrence is doubtless quite exceptional in Norway ; 
he takes the opportunity, however, to point out that Frey, Hormuzaki 
(in \erli. z-b. (res. Wien., xlix.), Nolcken, Teich, etc., have stated that 
there are two broods, whilst various other writers give one only. I 
took one or two good specimens in Scotland at the beginning of August, 
1902, but we were getting quite a number of May and June species at 
that time, in that extraordinarily backward season. The moth is easily 
kicked up by day, and I believe its flight-time is a little before dusk, 
when it may sometimes be observed in clouds. It thrives well in the 
far north, indeed Staudinger in his “ Reise nach Finmarken,” 
records ( Stett. Ent. Zeit., xxii., p, 399) that at Bossekop it was “ in 
such fabulous profusion as he had never seen in any other Geometrid 
species.” Hoffmann (ibid., xlv., p. 870) says there is probably perio¬ 
dicity in this appearance of such masses; he himself saw it in millions 
some two year previously, in the Upper Hartz, but had since found it 
scarce there. I have never seen it in anything like profusion round 
London, but in 1894 it was distinctly common in fields on the out¬ 
skirts of Epping Forest, since which time I have hardly seen it there. 
The only known foodplant is the yellow-rattle (Rkinanthm crista-yalli), 
in the seeds of which the larva feeds up rapidly. Its first discovery (so 
far as I know) was by Plotz, and was made known by Freyer in 1855 
(Nen. Beitr., vii., p. 70, pi. 645-1). The pupa—at any rate of the 
Shetland race—very often goes over two winters (Knt. Rec., i., pp. 19, 
47 , ii., p. 47, etc.). 
Perizoma blandiata, Schiff.— I have very little hesitation in placing 
this species, with its evident ally minorata, next to P. albulata, and in 
the same group with it, although I have not studied the early stages. 
De la Harpe long ago remarked on the close alliance of these three 
(Faune Suisse, iv., p. 115). Gumppenberg finds them congeneric on 
his system of wing-form, although I should not attach any importance 
to this alone ; he places them in his genus Rheumatoptera (Nova Acta 
Acad. C'aes. Rat., liv., pp. 294, 296), whereas the affinitata group goes 
to his Perizoma, and taeniata (loc. at., p. 413) to Chloroclysta, along 
with ludijicata, Stgr., rniata, L., and siterata, Hfn. I do not think any 
of our systematists, except Meyrick and Barrett, separate minorata 
from blandiata by other species, though Gumppenberg is alone in 
making it a mere “var.” thereof; some, such as Staudinger (Cat., ed. 
3, p. 305) and Aurivillius (Nord. Fjdr., pp. 246-7), have also wisely 
placed albulata next to these, while others (Guen^e, Meyrick, and 
especially Rerrich-Schaefter and Poppius) have interposed between 
them less related forms, as it seems to me. I fancy Aurivillius’ 
sequence is particularly happy, unless it be as regards the position of 
taeniata and fiavofasciata; it runs thus: taeniata, Jiavofasciata, albulata, 
blandiata, minorata, unifasciata, hydrata, alchemillata, flexuosaria, 
affinitata. P. blandiata was first made known as a species by Schiff'er- 
miiller in 1775 (Schmett. Wien., p. 316); he simply describes it as 
“ milk-white, black-grey striped geometer,” and this has led Staudinger 
to reject it as a “ catalogue name,” for it was not further adopted till 
1796, when Hiibner figured it, and in the meanwhile Borkhausen (Ear. 
Schmett., v., p. 444, anno 1794) had given a good description under 
the name of adaequata. But as blandiata. was certainly more than a 
“ nomen nudum,” and its identification has been elucidated by Hiibner 
and Treitschke, it must certainly be accepted on the score of priority. 
