the outer margin pale and the transverse lines indistinct. Gucne'e 
(Hist. Nat. des Insectes., Geom. i., 202) referring to the tauaria of 
Newman, as figured by Wood, says “ it does not appear to me even a 
variety. It is a fairly good figure of the type, whilst No. 466 is inexact 
and much too dark.” He adds that he had, however, received from 
England “an individual much more sombre than the French form.” 
Newman in his British Moths omits all mention of tauaria, but gives a 
very good description of our usual form of hispidaria. 
The varieties of Nyssia hispidaria may be roughly classified as 
follows:— (a) Pale greenish-grey, lines distinct: (h) pale reddish-brown, 
lines distinct (Hb. 177) : (c) asliy-brown, with darker band ; this may 
be divided into two sub-varieties (cl) ashy, with a brownish tendency 
(the type) and (c2) ashy, with a greenish tendency: (d) similar to the 
type, hut with the outer margin of fore-wings nearly white: (e) melanic. 
The first form might well be called var. tauaria, Newm., though it does 
not always show plainly the black T on the meso-thorax. This is the 
form to which Guenee refers as the type. Examples of this pale form 
are, according to our experience, rare; their proportion being about 2 
or 3 per cent. I have seen no specimens that agree with Hiibner’s 
figure, though it seems probable that such exist. It would have a 
similar relation to tauaria to that which the ashy-brown type has to the 
greyer sub-variety. The form with the pale outer margin is also, 
unfortunately, far from common; it is perhaps the most beautiful form 
of the species; in the specimen which I exhibit it will be noticed that 
the pale band is continued across the hind-wings, dividing these into a 
dark basal area and an outer nearly white area. Melanic specimens are 
likewise scarce; they usually show traces of the outer marginal band. 
I exhibit also a few other variations; two specimens show a tendency 
to the development of a solid black median band; another is a very 
dull brown diffused example; a third is more thinly scaled than usual. 
The decidedly paler and more clearly marked character of Continental 
(especially French) specimens is very evident, both from the figures of 
Hiibner and Duponchel and from the remarks of Guenee. The figures, 
too, represent the insect as having two lines across the hind-wings ; I 
have no specimens in which these are present but, in a few, there are 
slight indications of them. The great majority of my examples from 
Epping Forest are typical, sombre-looking and indistinctly marked. 
And now a few words about the 2 • As has been more than once 
pointed out, there is a pale greenisli-grey form and a dark reddish-black 
form. It is most easily distinguished from the female of P. pedaria 
by the legs, which are nearly smooth in pedaria but very hairy (at least 
the basal joints are) in hispidaria. The antennas of the latter, too, are 
more pectinated and she is stouter structurally. 
Guenee writing of the genus Nyssia, Dup. remarks on the strong 
build and hairiness of the thorax, the semi-transparency of the wings 
in the $ (this transparency is rather noticeable in some examjdes of 
hispidaria ) and the apterous character of the 2 s. He states that all 
the species are more or less rare; and that he knew only European 
species. Guenee divided the genus into two groups—the first having 
the rings of the abdomen in the 2 s adorned by circles of colours often 
rather bright. This first group includes our zonaria, lapponaria and 
hispidaria belonging to the second. Our two species (omitting lappon¬ 
aria, of which I know nothing) differ widely in form and in habits, 
