30 
they were not in very fresh condition, he further sent his own bred 
series for my inspection. These were not striated—as I had fancied 
from the captured examples would be the case—but still they differed 
markedly from our ordinary southern forms:— 
1. —The uniform brightness of the ochreous colouring. 
2. —A general tendency to increase its quantity, e.g. in the marginal 
area and on the under surface. 
3. —A somewhat frequent, though by no means invariable, decrease 
in the size, or partial obliteration, of the twin sjmts; and their general 
distinct separation—none thoroughly confluent, some widely separated. 
4. —The well-marked hind wings, with more or less ochreous-tinted 
outer band. (Compare nearly all Northern, Irish and Continental 
specimens generally.) 
5. —A general though almost indescribable difference in the tone of 
the colouring; the central band never very dark nor distinctly purplish, 
but rather inclining to ferruginous. 
Scotch forms, which, according to Mr. Reid of Pitcaple, are “ most 
abundant on the moors on dry heathery knolls and near stone fences,” 
are similar in their general characters to the Yorkshire forms, though 
with an increased tendency towards the genuine i( spadicearia ” type— 
band paler than in southern examples, sometimes almost concolorous 
with the ground colour, and often more or less “ in strigis dissoluta; ” 
also, as Mr. Reid writes me:—“ Our ferrugaria appears to me a more 
ochreous insect than your southern form, the band is also a little 
narrower and, if I may use the term, the whole insect has a looser 
appearance. I mean the scales are not so firmly attached as in the 
southern form, hence it has not such a sleek appearance,” &c. I have 
specimens from two or three Scotch localities, and Mr. Fletcher has 
also kindly allowed me to examine his fine series from Rannocli and 
in-bred specimens from Sutherlandshire. The latter, as will be seen 
from a few in my drawer, which he has presented to me, are much 
nearer to our southern forms than the former, but still present the 
“loose appearance,” the ochreous outer area, and the hind-wing 
characters which I regard as general in Scotch forms. The Rannoch 
form is known among some collectors as var. salicaria, Haw., and 
probably his type of that supposed “ species ” may have been an extreme 
striated form hereof; I have failed in my endeavours to trace either 
Haworth’s type specimen or the one from Bentley’s collection figured 
by Wood (555), which seems to be a very obscure, nearly unicolorous 
form. 
The Irish forms of this species are very interesting; I am indebted 
to Mr. M. Fitz-Gibbon for the few which I possess; also to Mr. W. F. 
de Y. Kane for interesting information on the distribution, &c., and for 
opportunity of inspecting some of his series. These strongly striated 
forms, sometimes with remarkably bright ochreous outer area, are, he 
tells me, abundant in certain localities in Co. Tyrone, Sligo, West¬ 
meath and Monaghan. They may be considered as showing a still further 
divergence from the unidentaria- like forms, in the respects indicated in 
dealing with the Yorkshire forms, but the variegated appearance due 
to striation, &c., seems to have become more fixed in parts of Ireland, 
as forming a local race, whereas in England it is frequently but 
aberrational. 
With regard to variation outside the British Isles, I must not venture 
