* rv j#
5. I 'JO.
tr^Hs^ctioHs
OF THE
CITY OF LONDON
Entomological & Natural History
Society
c?-. ii.
FOR THE YEAR 1907.
PUBLISHED BY THE
CITY OF LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
THE LONDON INSTITUTION, FINSBUBY CIBCUS, E.C.
Price Two Shillings.
- ■ —
yr//o-
CITY OF LONDON
Entomological & Natural History
SOCIETY,
Established 18S8.
MEETINGS HELD AT
The London Institution
FINSBURY CIRCUS, E.C.
Council for the Year 1908.
President
Vice-Presidents
Trustees
Treasurer
Librarians
A. W. Mera.
I T. A. Chapman, Dr., f.z.s., f.e.s.
' J. A. Clark, f.e.s., m.p.s.
Frederick J. Hand dry, f.l.s., f.e.s.
' L. B. Prout, f.z.s., f.e.s.
j James Scoti Sequeira, m.r.c.s.
( T. Huckett.
I P. H. Tautz,
( 33, North Audley Street, W
f G. H. Heath.
{ V. Eric Shaw.
Curators
Reporting
Hon. Secretaries
G. G. C. Hodgson.
A. J. Willsdon.
S. J. Bell,
Pen-y-bryn, Knight’s Hill,
West Norwood, S.E.
Corresponding
Thos. H. L. Grosvenor,
Walldeans, Gloucester Road, Redhill.
AND
Rev. C. R. N. Burrows and Messrs. H. M. Edelsten,
Edward Harris, J. Riches and A. Sich.
TR7* NS ACTIONS
OF THE
City of London Entomological
AND
Natural History Society.
PART XVII.
(1907.)
WITH LIST OF MEMBERS.
THE SOCIETY’S ROOMS, LONDON INSTITUTION,
FINSBURY CIRCUS, E.C.
February, 1908.
Names and Addresses of Members.
Apkin, B., f.e.s., 4, Lingard’s Koad, Lewisham, S.E.
Bacot, A. W., f.e.s. , 154, Lower Clapton Boad, Clapton, N.E.
Bayne, A. F., f.e.s., Gerencia, Ferro Carril Del Sud, Buenos Ayres.
Beattie, Wm., Glen Lodge, Mickleham, Surrey.
Bell, S. J., Pen-y-bryn, Knight’s Hill, VV. Norwood, S.E.
Benton, B. G., Waterperry, Wood Lane, Highgate.
Bloomfield, W., 1a, Boyston Villas, East End Boad, East Finchley.
Bouskell, F., f.e.s., f.r.h.s., Market Bosworth, Nuneaton.
Bowles, E. A., m.a., f.l.s., f.e.s., Myddleton House, Waltham Cross, Herts.
Brady, Jas., 4, Ham Park Boad, Stratford, E.
Briggs, C. A., f.e.s., Bock House, Lynmouth, B.S.O. North Devon.
Brooke, Chas., 1, Berners Street, W.
Broome, E. G., Hurst Vicarage, Twyford, Berks.
Burrows, Bev. C. B. N., The Vicarage, Mucking, Stanford-le-hope, Essex.
Capper, Chas., Glyndale, Glebe Boad, Barnes Common.
Chapman, Dr. T. A., f.z.s. f.e.s., Betula, Beigate, Surrey.
Clark, J. A., f.e.s., m.p.s., 57, Weston Park, Crouch End, N.
Cockayne, E. A., f.e.s., 16, Cambridge Square, W.
Conquest, G. H., The Moorings, Meteor Boad, Westcliff-on-Sea.
Cox, W. Ilston, 7, Cleveland Avenue, Merton Park, Surrey.
Crabtree, B. H., f.e.s., Cringle Lodge, Levenshulme, Manchester.
Cross, F. B., Park Villa, Bruce Grove, Tottenham, N.
Dale, Sydney W., The Lawn, Archers Boad, Southampton.
Dodd, W. B., Trederwen, Village Boad, Enfield, Middlesex.
Edelsten, H. M., f.e.s., The Elms, Forty Hill, Enfield.
Edwards, S., f.l.s., f.z.s., f.e.s., Kidbrooke Lodge, Blackheath, S.E.
Gardner, J. E., 204, Evering Boad, Clapton, N.E.
Garland, G. B., 94, Sedgwick Boad, Leyton, E.
Grosvenor, Thos., H.L., Walldeans, Gloucester Boad, Bedhill.
Hamling, T. H., 27, Kentish Town Boad, Camden Town, N.W.
Hanbury, Frederick J., f.l.s., f.e.s., 96, Clapton Common, N.E.
Hanbury, F. Capel, 96, Clapton Common, N.E.
Harris, Edward, f.e.s., St Conan’s, Chingford, Essex.
Harrison, A., f.l.s., f.c.s., f.e.s., Delamere, Grove Boad, South Woodford.
Hayward, H. C., Bepton School, Bepton, Derbyshire.
Heath, G. H., 277, Brockley Boad, S.E.
Hodson, L. S., Maisonette, Palmers Green, N.
Hodgson, G. G. C., Stoneleigh, Oxford Boad, Bedhill.
Hopson, Montagu F., l.d.s., r.c.s. Eng., f.l.s., f.e.s.,
30, Thurlow Boad, Bosslyn Hill, Hampstead, N.W.
Huckett, T., 200, New North Boad, Islington, N.
James, Bussell E., 18, Onslow Gardens, Highgate, N.
Janson, 0. E., 95, Claremont Boad, Highgate N.
Kaye, W. J., f.e.s., “ Caracas,” Ditton Hill, Surbiton.
King, Henry A., “Oakleiglj,” Coolhurst Boad, Crouch End, N.
Langford, D., “Brooklyn,” Dollis Boad, Church End, Finchley.
Massey, Herbert, f.e.s., “Ivy Lea,” Burnage, Didsbury.
Mera, A. W., 79, Capel Boad, Forest Gate, E.
Newbery, E. A., 12. Churchill Boad, Dartmouth Park, N.W.
Newman, L. W., 41, Salisbury Boad, Bexley, Kent.
Nicholson, C., 35, The Avenue, Hale End, Chingford, N.E.
Oldham, Charles, 2, Warwick Villas, Chelmsford Boad, Woodford.
Pearson. G., 10, Brushfield Street, Bishopsgate, E.C.
Phillips, Hubert C., m.r.c.s. Eng., m. & l.s.a. Loncl., f.e.s.,
_ _ 262. Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, W.
Pickett, C. P., f.e.s., Hera House, 99, Dawlish Road, Leyton, E.
Prout, Louis B., f.e.s., “ The Elms,” 246, Richmond Road, Dalston, N.E.
Raynor, Rev. G. H., m.a., Hazeleigh Rectory, Maldon, Essex.
Reid, Edward, “ Birdhurst,” Ckorleywood near Rickmanswortk, Herts.
Riches, J., 52, Calverley Grove, Hornsey Rise, N.
Routledge, G. B., f.e.s., Tarn Lodge, Headsnook, Carlisle.
Rydon, A., “ Awbrook,” Lindtield, Sussex.
Sabine, L. A. E., 1, Selliurst Road, South Norwood, S.E.
Sauze, H. A., 22, Earlsthorpe Road, Sydenham, S.E.
Sequeira, James Scott, m.r.c.s., Crescent House, Cassland Road,
„ South Hackney, N.E.
Shaw, V. Eric, 20, Salisbury Road, Bexley, Kent.
Sich, Alfred, f.e.s., Corney House, Chiswick, W.
Simmons, C. W., 43, Fairmead Road, Tufnell Park, N.
Studd, E. F., m.a., b.c.l., f.e.s., Oxton, Exeter.
Tautz, H. E., “The Mithers ” Nower Hill, Pinner, Middlesex.
Tautz, P. H., 33, North Audley Street, W.
Thornthwaite, W., f.r.a.s., ‘'Wedges,” Itchingfield, Horsham.
Todd, R. G., “ The Limes,” Hadley Green, N.
Tonge, A. E., “ Aincroft,’.’ Grammar School Hill, Reigate.
Turner, E., Manor House, Twickenham.
Whitehouse, Harold B., 61, Lambeth Palace Road, S.E.
Wightman, A. J., “ Ailsa Craig,” Lewes, Suffolk.
Willsdon, A. J., 28, Albany Road, Manor Park, E.
Honorary Members.
Anderson, E., 11, Marlton Crescent, St. Ivilda, Melbourne, Australia.
Avebury, Right Hon. Lord, p.c., d.c.l., f.r.s., f.l.s., f.g.s., f.e.s.,
High Elms, Beckenham.
Walsingham, Right Hon. Lord, m.a., l.l.d., f.r.s.. f.l.s., f.z.s., f.e.s.
Merton Hall, Thetford, Norfolk.
REPORTS OF MEETINGS.
Dec. 18tli, 1906.— Entephria c^siata and E. ruficinctata. — Mr.
E. A. Cockayne short series from Rannoch district, including dark and
banded forms of both species.
Pierts BRASSICA5— Mr. A. Harrison, a series reared from ova laid
by typical $ , taken at Wavertree near Liverpool. In several of the
2 s, and one or two $ s, the spots on the forewings, on both the
under and upper sides, were connected by black scales, thus forming in
the more extreme instances a broad band.
Bindahar/’e Sugriva. mimicry. — Dr. Cl. G. C. Hodgson, in exhibiting
specimens from Australia, stated that he had observed that this species
rested either head downwards or horizontally, so that the ocelli on the
underside of the hindwings resembled a head, and the “tails ” simu¬
lated antennae ; the fact that all the specimens exhibited were more or
less damaged at the anal angle of the hindwings, suggested that birds
were deceived by the resemblance described.
Jodia croceago. — Mr. A. J. Willsdon exhibited two series : the
one bred in Essex from Kent ova was of normal orange colour,
while the other bred in Yorkshire from New Forest ova was of a pale
salmon pink colour. _ .
Paper. — Mr. L. B. Prout read a paper on Entephria caesiata, printed
in extenso in this volume.
Jan. 1st, 1907. — Pocket Box Exhibition.
Dwarfed Lepidoptera. — Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, a number of
undersized lepidoptera, including Agrotis puta, A. saucia, Amathes
c-ni(irun), Plusia chrysitis and ELeliopliila pallens, taken in September,
1906. Mr. Burrows suggested that the dwarfing was the result of the
exceptionally hot and dry season.
Polia chi from Yorkshire. — Mr. S. J. Bell, a series from the
moors near Whitby, where the species was commonly met with on the
stone walls that abound in the district ; the specimens were of a
uniform pale grey colour.
Acronycta menyanthidis. — Mr. H. M. Edelsten, fine melamc
examples from Yorkshire.
Argynnis selene abs. — Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor, a £ with con¬
fluent marginal spots, and a 2 much suffused with black, from
Ashdown Forest. _
Thyatira batis. — Mr. L. A. E. Sabine, a specimen vith pink
coloration much accentuated, from Epping Forest, and another from
New Forest, with this coloration entirely lacking as in the Lin mean
type.
Jan. 15th, 1907. — Thera variata and Psodos trepidaria — Parallel
variation. — Mr. E. A. Cockayne, specimens from Rannoch with central
fascia on forewings interrupted.
Phragmatobia fuliginosa. — A 2 with yellow abdomen and hmd-
wings, and an example of var. Borealis, both from Rannoch. Ibid.
5
Melanic lepidoptera. — Mr. H. M. Edelsten Synopsia abruptaria
from Clapton, Nona pH a gemini puncta and Phigalia pedaria from En¬
field, N. cannae and N. typhae from Norfolk, Stauropus fagi from
Epping, and Cymatophora gemmaria from Kent. Mr. A. Harrison
Bombycia d u plans and Acronicta leporina from Cornwall and Lancs.,
Pkaretra runiicis from Barnsley, Kupithecia venosata from Folkestone
and Shetland Isles, and Aplecta nebuloxa from Cornwall, Epping and
Delamere. Mr. L. A. E. Sabine, Pliraymatobia fuliginoxa with black
body and hindwings. Mr. H. B. YVbitehouse, Lymantria monacha
from Hull.
Paper. — Mr. L. W. Newman read a paper detailing some of bis
experiences in breeding melanic lepidoptera. The particulars given
showed that as a rule such forms usually bred true — or almost so —
after the second brood ; the strains, however, usually die out soon after
this, presumably owing to weakness due to in-breeding. Mr. Newman
claimed that melanism was obviously on the increase in the British
Isles, and could not be attributed solely to an increasingly smoke-
polluted atmosphere, as the areas affected are widely separated both as
regards position and general characteristics, and by no means confined
to manufacturing districts.
A vote of thanks to the essayist proposed by Mr. L. B. Prout, and
seconded by Mr. S. J. Bell, was duly carried.
Feb. 5th, 1907. — Hartula hyerana — Temperature and variation.
— Dr. T. A. Chapman exhibited specimens showing that out of 15
examples emerging in November, December and January, 13 were
decidedly darker in colour than any of 400 specimens which emerged
at the normal time, viz., from August to October. Dr. Chapman
considered it probable that the low temperature experienced by the
pupa? of the late imagines was the direct cause of the latter’s tendency
to darker coloration, at the same time admitting that the prolonga¬
tion of the pupal stage (directly due to temperature) might be a
contributory cause.
Acronicta leporina ab. — Mr. E. A. Cockayne, a specimen from
North Sutherland, entirely white save for a large black spot in centre
of forewings.
Camptogramma bilineata vars. — Specimens from same district
spotted with black. — Ibid.
Acalla lorquiniana and Senta maritima. — Mr. H. M. Edlesten
exhibited a series of the former from Norfolk, and drew attention to
the fact that not only did the species resemble a miniature -S', maritima,
but that it had parallel forms of variation.
Cidaria miata. — Mr. A. Harrison, a long series bred in August and
September, 190G, from New Forest OATa.
Pachys betularia vars. — Mr. V. E. Shaw, striking examples of
forms intermediate between the type and var. Duubledayaria ; the
specimens were secured at Bexley by sembling with typical bred 2 s.
In four nights, 14 typical ^ s, 15 var. duubledayaria, 3 light inter¬
mediates and 4 dark intermediates were attracted, mostly between
10.30 and 11.30 p.m.
Cymatophora repandata — ab. Conversaria.- — A second brood bred
September and October, from Torquay ova. — Ibid.
Cosmias from Pinner. — Mr. P. H. Tautz, all four species from this
6
district, C. pyralina being taken freely at light in July, and C. a (finis
bred from larvae beaten out of elm in May.
Paper. — Mr. E. A. Cockayne read some “Notes from North
Sutherland,” which are published in full in this volume.
Feb. 19th, 1907.— Nonagria geminipuncta. — Mr. E. A. Cockayne,
melanic specimens from Bournemouth.
Pupation of Meliana flammea. — Mr. L. W. Newman, pupae spun
up in captivity in reed blades drawn by the larvae into perfectly
cylindrical form ; the larva usually pupates in the stem.
Petasia nubf.culosa. — A pupa retaining the transparent greenish
appearance of a freshly formed pupa but actually a year old. — Ibid.
Toxocampa pastinum. — Mr. V. E. Shaw, a series from Walmer,
Kent, July, 1906.
Laphygma exigua.— Imagines bred in December, 1906. — Ibid.
Discussion. — Mr. H. M. Edlesten’s opening of a discussion on the
“ Wainscots,” is included in this volume.
March 5th, 1907. — Donation to Library. — Mr. Mera presented the
1906 volume of the “ Entomologists Record.”
Nominations. — The following gentlemen were nominated for mem¬
bership. Mr. F. B. Cross, Park Villa, Bruce Grove, Tottenham, proposed
by Mr. L. B. Prout and Mr. H. M. Edlesten. Mr. D. Langford,
“ Brooklyn ” Dollis Road, Church End, Finchley, proposed by Messrs.
P. H. Tautz and R. G. Todd. Mr. Edward Reid, “ Birdhurst,”
Chorleywood, near Rickmansworth, Herts, proposed by Messrs. II. M.
Edlesten and P. H. Tautz.
Leioptilus carphodactylus from Folkestone. — Dr. T. A. Chapman
specimens received from Mr. Purdy— the first British record.
Hastula hyerana — pupal “ freak.” — A pupa with mandibles of
larval pattern. — Ibid.
Nemoria viridata. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, a series from Wither-
slack, showing variation with regard to pale lines on torewings ; in
one specimen there was only a single line, in another the lower end of
the outer line was bent, outwards, and in a third the line was markedly
crenulate.
Nemoria porrinata (Zeller). — Mr. L. B. Prout, specimens from
S. Europe, apparently indistinguishable from N. viridata, but said to
be differentiated by having brown costal dusting and brown frons and
forelegs.
Harpyia bicuspis cocoons. — Mr. L. W. Newman, two cocoons con¬
taining living pupae found on birch trunks in Tilgate Forest.
Dipthera alpium (Orion). — Mr. P. H. Tautz, a bred series including
a specimen with brown marbling much accentuated, and green ground
colour darker and duller than usual.
Paper. — Rev. O. R. N. Burrows read a paper on Nemoria viridata
ultimately destined to be published in “ The Entomologists’ Record.”
After dealing with the synonomy, and accepting theLinmean specimen
with only one pale line on the forewings as the type, Mr. Burrows dealt
with the insects habitat ; this he described as very local, there being
no records for Ireland, Scotland, Wales or Isle of Wight. He pointed
out that this species differed from all the other “ emeralds ” so far
dealt with by him, in that it hybernates as a pupa ; moreover, the
7
larva, while possessing the spicules and transparent plates noticed in
other species, does not possess the highly specialized hairs and pro¬
cesses found on the latter. The variation of the imago, which is slight
and limited, was also dealt with.
March 19th, 1907. — New Members. — Messrs. F. B. Cross, D.
Langford and Edward Reid, were elected to membership.
Nomination. — Mr. A. H. Shepherd, of 81, Corinne Road, Tufnell
Park, N., was nominated by Messrs. L. B. Prout and J. A. Clark.
Donation.— Mr. H. M. Edelsten presented a reprint of his paper on
the British Xonagria neurica.
Protective resemblance in pup.e. — Mr. A. Harrison, exhibited
stereoscopic photos, taken by Mr. H. C. Maine, of a large Tineid
( Binsitta ? sp.), from Upper Burmah, which bears a striking re¬
semblance to the head of a small snake (Ly codon aulicus, Linn.)
common in Burmah ; of two pupae received, one resembled the type,
and another a striking variety of the snake in question.
Nemoria viridata ab. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, a specimen ex Mr.
Sidney Webb s collection, with very dark green cilia and dark green
costa.
Paper. In the unavoidable absence of Mr. C. P. Pickett, who was
to have read some notes on recent collecting, Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson
kindly contributed some interesting notes on Polyommatus thetis
( bellarym ) and its allies; these are printed at the end of the
transactions.
April 2nd, 1907. — New Member. — Mr. A. H. Shepherd was elected
a member of the Society.
Lithosia muscerda.— Mr. H. M. Edelsten, larvae and pup® reared
in captivity.
Phigalia pedaria. var. — Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor, a series from
Reigate, including a melanic $ with a metallic green tinge on
fore wings.
Sterrha ochrata. — -Mr. V. E. Shaw, larvae reared from ova laid
by J taken at Deal, July, 1906.
Scarcity of larvae. — Mr. L. W. Newman reported that in localities
where larvae of Cosmotriche potatoria and Arctia caia were usually
abundant they were practically non-existent; a few larvae of the latter
found in an abnormally advanced stage suggested that the larv® had
passed the usual hibernating stadium in the previous autumn and the
majority had died in consequence during the winter.
April 16th 1907. — Donation. — The curators announced the receipt
from Mr. L. B. Prout of numerous lepidoptera, including Lycaena
arion, Laplujyma exigua and Toxocampa craccac.
Ithysia lapponaria. — Mr. A. W. Mera 2 s and 1 $ recently
bred.
Notolophus gonostigma — pabulum. — In the course of a discussion
concerning N. gonostigma, Mr. H. M. Edelsten stated that he had
observed that in the fens the lame hibernated on sallows, but left
these in the spring and fed up on various low plants.
May 7ch, 1907. — Donations. — The curators announced the receipt
8
of about three dozen lepidoptera from Rev. G. H. Raynor, and several
Cosmia pyralina from Mr. P. H. Tautz.
Epirritas. — Rev. C. R. N. Burrows bred specimens of hybrid
Epirrita dilutata x Christyi ; also a cross between Enniskillen and
Lancashire E. autumnata closely resembling E. filigrammaria.
May 21st, 1907. — Donation. — Mr. J. A. Clark contributed a pair of
Anarta cordigera, from Rannoch, to the Society’s cabinet.
Nomination. — Mr. 0. E. Janson, 95, Claremont Road, Highgate,
N., was nominated for membership by Mr. J. A. Clark and Dr. J. S.
Sequeira.
Xanthorh(f. fluctuata, was the object of special exhibition and dis¬
cussion. Rev. C. R. N. Burrows exhibited ab. C'ostovata from Mucking ;
Mr. J. A. Clark also exhibited this var., and the Linnsean type. A
series shown by Mr. J. Riches, also included var. eostovata from
Hornsey.
Egeria andren/Eformis. — Mr. H. M. Edelsten, stems of I iburnum
showing larval borings with ichneumon cocoons, and an empty pupa
case in situ.
Colias rhamni — oviPOsiTioN.-— Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson exhibited ova,
and reported that he had noticed that these were always found in
batches of three or more on a leaf ; such ova generally hatched
simultaneously, pointing to their being all laid by the same $ .
Dryas paphia larv.e.- — Mr. L. W. Newman, larvae in penultimate
stadium, bred ab ovo.
June 4th, 1907. — New Member.- — Mr. 0. E. Janson was elected
a member of the Society.
Ennomos quercinaria — The evening was mainly devoted to the
exhibition and discussion of this species.
Rev. C. R. N. Burrows exhibited ab. equestraria from Ipswich.
Mr. A. W. Mera, very pale specimens from Ipswich, and forms
approaching ab. equestraria from S. Kensington. Mr. L. B. Prout ab.
infuscata from S. Kensington, and a pale form from Eynsford.
Eusarcae elinguaria. — Mr. J. A. Clark, specimens from Scotland
of deep almost orange coloration, and without the usual central
fascia on forewings.
June 18th, 1907. — Nomination. — Mr. A. J. Wightinan, “ Ailsa
Craig,” Lewes, Suffolk, was nominated for membership by Messrs.
T. H. L. Grosvenor and P. H. Tautz.
Calocampa vetusta. — Dr. T. A. Chapman, larva? from South Tyrol,
which, instead of being green as is usually the case in English
specimens, were black with yellow dorsal and lateral lines, and pale
white subdorsal line.
Ithysia lapponia, ab. — Mr. E. A. Cockayne, a $ with pale yellow
costa and dorsal stripe, Rannoch, 1907.
Chilo phragmitellus. — Mr. IJ. M. Edelsten, a very dark, almost
black $ , from Norfolk Broads.
Nemoria viridata, abs.— Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, two specimens from
Surrey, one having reddish forewings flecked with irregular green
patches and hindwings of usual green colour, except at the anal angle,
9
the other being of usual green colour, but dappled with irregular and
asymmetrical reddish blotches.
Synopsia abruptarta — gynandromorph. — Mr. C. W. Simmons, a
\eiy striking specimen from Holloway, Avith right Avings almost black
$ , and left wings typical J .
Graphiphora opima. — Mr. A. J. Willsdon, a series from Epping
^oiest district, including a pale grey specimen Avith dark brown central
fascia.
Erannis leucophearia. — Mr. J. A. Clark, very dark specimens Avith
usual pale median band almost obsolete, from New Forest.
Mr. A. H. Shepherd, E, w an/inaria var. fuscata, from Huddersfield,
and E. leucojjhearia ab. inannormaria from Richmond Park.
Lepidopterous ova on a bird’s aaunO. — Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor
leported having found o\ra of Macruthylacia rubi on the Aving of a
dead jay in Ashdown Forest.
September 3rd, 1907. — New Member. — Mr. A. J. Wightman was
elected a member of the Society.
Nominations. — Mr. C. W. Simmons, 48, Fairmead Road, Tufnell
Park, N., AA’as nominated by Messrs. J. A. Clark and J. Riches, and
Mr. F. Turner, Manor House, TAvickenham, by Dr. J. S. Sequeira
and Mr. .J. A. Clark.
Anthrocera palustris. — Mr. S. J. Bell, a series from Bude, end of
July* 1907, including many Avith spots more or less confluent, and one
example in Avhich the five spots A\Tere merged into one blotch occupying
more than half the wing area.
Mr. H. M. Edelsten, specimens from Norfolk Broads, end of July,
1907, mostly having the central spots confluent.
Hemithea yESTiA’ARiA larvae. — ReA-. C. R. N. Burrows, laivae feeding
on wild thyme.
Dryas paphia — VAR. Valezina. — Mr. J. A. Clark, five examples,
bred ex tAvelve pupae reared from ova laid by Valezina $ .
Spilodes palealis from Dover. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, a long
series taken between July 24th and August 3rd, 1907.
Theretra porcellus, ab. — A specimen Avith right wings of normal
southern coloration, and left wings of almost unicolorous yellow shade
often seen in northern specimens. Ibid.
Caelimorpha dominula, ab. — Mr. C. P. Pickett, a specimen Avith
red ground colour replaced by yelloAv, from Deal.
Spilote grossulariata, ab. — Mr. J. Riches, a series bred from north
London larvae, including tAvo specimens with all the wings poAvdered
with black scales.
September 17th, 1907. — Neaa' Members. — Messrs. C. W. Simmons
and E. Turner Avere elected members of the Society.
Lycaena arion. — Mr. S. J. Bell, a series from N. Cornwall in good
condition, although taken during the last week in July.
Agrotis obscura. — Rev. C. R. N. BurroAvs, two ? s and ova laid
by same, twelve specimens having been taken by him at Mucking
during late August and early September.
Cymatophora gemmaria. — Mr. J. A. Clark, dark specimens, similar
to London form, from Pitlochrie, N.B.
PoLYOMMATUS THETIS (BELLARGUS) 2 S WITH $ COLORATION. - Dl’.
10
G. G. C. Hodgson, unusually blue specimens taken in Surrey, Sussex
and Kent, between May 26th and July 28rd, 1907 ; the exhibitor
suggested that the tendency to g coloration had some relation to the
inclement season.
Spilote ulmata ab. — Mr. A. W. Mera, a series from Chalfont Road,
including several specimens with black markings almost obsolete.
Maniola tithonus, abs. — Mr. C. P. Pickett, a long series from
Dawlish, August lst-21st, many showing abnormally large ocelli on
forewings, while a few lacked the white central spot in same ", seveial
specimens were of a pale Painphilus- like colour.
Cosmotriche potatoria. — Mr. J. Riches, a series from Eastbourne,
being as a whole somewhat darker than usual.
Stauropus fagi. — Mr. P. H. Tautz, seven specimens taken at
Chorleywood about July 15th, 1907, including one or two rather
dark g s.
October 1st, 1907.— Nonagria cann®— oviposition.— Mr. H. M.
Edelsten, ova in situ on Typhae. The exhibitor explained that the $
was provided with special hooks enabling it to lift up the natuial
folds in the cuticle of the leaf and deposit the ovum underneath.
Melit.ea artemis. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, series showing parallel
variation in widely separated districts, such as Central Ireland and
South Wales, Devon, Surrey and S. Wales and Devon, Kent and S.
Wales.
Spider preying on Lyc.enid.e. — Dr. Hodgson also exhibited a
large red spider observed in abundance on RGgate Hill, where its
irregular web, spun close to the ground, vas frequently found to con¬
tain numbers of Polyommatus tlietis g s.
Dianth(Ecia luteago var. ficklini. — Mr. L. B. Prout, a specimen
bred July 3rd, 1907, from larva found at Bude, N. Cornwall, end of
July, 1906, feeding on roots of Silene maritvna. The larva was
reared on cut root in a tin box, and pupated about the middle of
September.
Polia nigrocincta. — Mr. L. A. E. Sabine, a series bred from N.
Cornwall larvae reared on apple and sallow.
Adopcea flava, resting habit. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson exhibited
sketches of a specimen observed resting in the sun in the position
assumed by Nisoniades tayes when at rest at night.
October 15th, 1907. — Lasiocampa callunje, ab. — Mr. J. A. Clark, a
g from Dulnaith Bridge with usual pale fascia suffused with biov n
ground colour.
Coenobia rufa. — Mr. H. M. Edelsten, a dark red-brown form from
Dorset.
Polyommatus icarus.— Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor, senes from Surrey
and Aberdeen, those from the latter district being the larger and more
intense in colour.
Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, specimens taken during 1907, showing an
unusually large proportion of blue $ s.
Colotois pennaria, ab. — Mr. A. W. Mera, a g , Brentwood, 190 1 ,
with lines on forewings very close together, and only faintly indicated.
Melanic Ennomos autumnaria. — Mr. L. W. Newman, a series bred
11
from pairing of melanic $ and typical 5 from Dover ; many of the
specimens followed the $ parent.
Toxocampa ckacc/E. — Mr. L. B. Prout, specimens from N. Cornwall
and N. Devon, 1907 ; all the specimens were of slatey grey colour,
none showing the brownish tinge supposed to be characteristic of N.
Devon examples some years ago.
Noxagria geminipuncta. — Mr. J. Riches, a series bred from Lewes
pup*.
Meliana flammea. — Dr. J. S. Sequeira, specimens taken at light and
sugar, Wicken, June, 1907.
Noxagria arundinis. — Mr. R. G. Todd, a long series, Wicken,
June 10th-23rd, 1907.
Leucaxiids from Torquay. — Mr. A. J. Willsdon, Heliophila
•putrescens, and Li. vitellina, September, 1907.
November 5th, 1907. - — Death of Member. — The President
announced the receipt of advice of the death of Mr. A. H. Shepherd ;
a motion requesting the secretary to send a letter of condolence and
regret was adopted.
Cleogene peletieraria, second brood. — Dr. T. A. Chapman, a
living $ bred from ova laid in August ; attention was drawn to the
fact that the throwing of a second brood by an Alpine species, though
unexpected, was paralleled by a similar record in connection with
Erebia cassiope.
Bombycia ocularis from Finchley.— Mr. W. Bloomfield, various
lepidoptera collected in Finchley district during 1907, including a
single B. ocularis.
The usual custom of devoting the first evening in November to the
exhibition and exchange of duplicates was maintained.
November 19th, 1907. — Donation to library. — The librarians
announced the receipt from Mr. A. E. Tonge, of a brochure containing
many photographs of lepidoptera and lepidopterous ova.
Camptogramma fluviata at sugar. — Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, a $
taken at sugar at Mucking, October 2nd, 1907.
Anthrocera purpuralis (Minos). — Mr. A. Harrison, specimens
taken in Carnarvonshire in 1905 and 1907, those taken in the former
year being larger and more thickly scaled than the 1907 examples.
Mr. Harrison mentioned that in 1907 emergence took place about a
month later than in 1905, and suggested that the inclemency of the
current year might account for the difference in appearance between the
two series.
Melanic anthrocera trifolii. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, three
extreme examples with all wings metallic blue-black, and only a trace
of the red spots — also six spotted specimens — Surrey, 1907.
Melanic Epirrita dilutata. — Mr. L. W. Newman, a deep brown-
black specimen, Bexley, October, 1907.
Crocallis elinguaria from north London, 1882 and 1907.— Mr.
A. J. Willsdon exhibited examples taken at Manor Park in 1882 and
1907, the recent captures being heavily speckled with dark brown,
while the 1882 specimens were pale in colour. Mr. Willsdon also
exhibited a gynandromorph from the same district, and a specimen
12
from Torquay, September, 1907, with the central band on forewings
very dark, and heavily outlined.
December 3rd, 1907. — Annual meeting.
Euvanessa antiopa. — Mr. J. A. Clark, a specimen taken at
Walthamstow in 1872.
Urbicola comma, ab. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, a long series from
Surrey including a cream coloured $ , and another $ with underside
as dark as in typical $ .
Harpyia bicuspis from Tilgate. — Mr. L. W. Newman, 3 cocoons
containing living pupas, found on birch trunks.
Eupsilia satellitia, ab. — Mr. J. Riches, on behalf of Mr. Dewey
of Eastbourne, two very dark specimens, and another of uniform brick-
red colour.
Epirrita autumnata from Tilgate Forest. — Mr. L. A. E. Sabine,
three E. autumnata taken in 1907, one having the upper wings of a
unicolorous pale grey save for a somewhat darker broact central band.
Election of Council. — The result of the election of officers for
the ensuing year was as follows : —
President. — Mr. A. W. Mera.
Vice-presidents. — Dr. T. A. Chapman, and Messrs. J. A. Clark,
F. J. Hanbury and L. B. Prout.
Treasurer. — Mr. P. H. Tautz.
Librarians. — Messrs. G. H. Heath and V. E. Shaw.
Curators. — Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson and Mr. A. J. W lllsdon.
Secretaries. — Messrs. S. J. Bell and T. H. L. Grosvenor.
Non-official Members of Council. — Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, and
Messrs. H. M. Edelsten, E. Harris, J. Riches and A. Sich.
Secretaries’ Report for the Year 1907.
It is some four years since the secretaries have been able to obey
the strict letter of the rule that decrees that on the occasion of the
annual meeting they shall put before members a report on the
progress of the Society. .
It is, therefore, with a refreshing and pleasurable sensation ot
change that we announce that we are this year in a position to state
that "during 1907 some progress has undoubtedly been made ; it is
modest in degree, but, nevertheless, better to record than dormancy
or retrogression.
In the first place the members’ roll has been increased, and we
have now got well ahead of the limit of 75 members, which number
was commented upon a year or so ago as an apparently impassable
figure in connection with the number of the Society’s adherents.
During the year eight new members have been secured, while two
have resigned and two (be it regretfully recorded) have joined the
great majority — the one, an honorary member, Mr. J. E. Robson, and
the other (only elected in April, 1907), Mr. A. H. Shepherd. Thus
last year’s total of 75 has been increased to 79. A search through the
13
records of the Society’s doings during the past seventeen years has
failed to reveal any record equal to this, and it is to be hoped that,
having left the fatal number 75 well behind, we shall soon be requir¬
ing an enlarged prospectus to accommodate a steadily increasing
membership.
The attendance at the meetings should be a reliable indicator to
the Society’s activity, and here, also, an advance can be recorded.
The average attendance per meeting in 1906 worked out at 16-55,
while for 1907 it is 17-55. The highest average on record is, appar¬
ently, 18-0 in 1903; the increase in our numbers should enable us to beat
the average next year. Next year, be it noted, is the Society’s jubilee
year, and it would be satisfactory to commemorate same by a record
membership and a record attendance.
The increasing attendance and the more numerous exhibits conse¬
quent thereon make it more than ever impossible for the reporting
secretary to record all the exhibits from his own observations; and
he frankly confesses once again that he has no intention of attempting
the impossible. Members are, therefore, once more urged to furnish
notes on all points worth recording in connection with their exhibits.
The attendance of visitors, unfortunately, goes from bad to
worse. In 1905 we averaged 1 visitor per meeting; in 1906, mathe¬
matically speaking, only 0-85 of a visitor graced each gathering, while
this year the figure has dwindled to 0-6. As about a third of those
whose names have appeared on the visitor side of our attendance book
during the past four or five years have ultimately become members,
this falling off in the number of visitors is obviously a matter for
regret.
The largest gathering of the year was on “ exchange night,”
which has proved a popular fixture ever since its introduction in 1903.
In connection with this meeting it is worth noting that this year there
was more real exchanging going on, and considerably less of that
display of faith in the old saw that “ the Lord helps those who help
themselves,” which has tended to detract from the enjoyment of
previous exchange evenings. This is a step in the right direction and
should encourage the display of more really good insects, thereby
rendering the occasion still more attractive. However generous an
entomologist may be he cannot but feel somewhat discouraged if his
invitation to “ help yourselves ” is obeyed so literally that his box is
converted into a receptacle for a mere aching void.
In respect of our field meetings Providence — or the clerk of the
weather — proved less kind. Arrangements were made for three, viz.,
to Worley, on June 15th; Chalfont Road, July 6th; and Reigate,
July 27th. The first meeting was rendered impossible to all but one
or two ultra-adventurous spirits by torrential rain ; the second was
more fortunate as regards the weather of the moment, but insects
were lacking owing to the generally inclement season. On the third
occasion the weather was cold and dull, and lepidoptera were con¬
spicuous by their absence.
There is, unfortunately, not much to record in the matter of
donations. Our worthy President has repeated his annual gift of
a volume of the “ Record,” and this constitutes the only substantial
14
gratuitous addition to the library. The cabinet has fared rather
better, and several of the rarer species of lepidoptera having been
presented by Messrs. Clark, Hodgson, Front, Raynor, and Tautz.
The following programme has been carried out during the year : —
1906, Dec. 18. Larentia caesiata ... ... ... Mr. L. B. Prout.
1907, Jan. 1. Pocket Box Exhibition.
15. Notes on breeding Melanie lepi¬
doptera
Feb. 5. Notes from North Sutherland
,, 19. Exhibition and Discussion —
“ Wainscots ” ... opened by
Mar. 5. iSemoria viridata
,, 19. Polyommatus corydon and P. thetis...
Nov. 5. Exchange Night.
„ 19. Special Exhibit — Zygaenidae
Dec. 3. Annual Meeting — Presidential
Address ...
Mr. L. W. New¬
man.
Mr. E. A. Cock¬
ayne.
Mr. II. M. Edels-
ten.
Rev. C. R. N.
Burrows.
Dr. G. G. C.
Hodgson.
Mr. A. W. Mera.
A year or two ago the lack of new names on our programme was
a source of anxiety ; in the last report we were able to point to one
recruit, and during the past year we have secured the support of two
members who have not hitherto figured in the annual syllabus — yet
another instance of progress made.
It is with feelings of regret— that are shared by his co-secretary —
that Mr. E. Harris announces his enforced retirement from active
duty owing to ill health. We are confident, however, that his
successor, Mr. T. H. L. Grosvenor, will both deserve and receive
the same cordial support as has been accorded in the past to the
retiring secretary.
S. J. Bell.} „ o
t-^ TT f LlOll . u€CS.
H. Harris. J
15
TREASURER’S ACCOUNT, December, 1906, to December, 1907.
GENERAL FUND.
Dr.
Cr.
To Balance from 1906 . . 11
,, 51 Subscriptions, 7/6,
and 1 Half Subscrip¬
tion, 5/- . . . . 19
,, 2 Subscriptions, 5/- . . 0
,, 5 Entrance Fees, 2/6 . . 0
,, 8 Arrears, 7/6, and 2
Arrears, 5/- . . . . 3
,, 8 Subscriptions for 1908.
7/6 . .3
s.
d.
£
s.
d.
2
14
By Rent, July 31st, 1906, to
July 31st, 1907
12
12
0
» >
Insurance
0
6
3
7
6
J J
Attendance
0
10
0
10
0
) >
Printing and Stationery
1
12
4
12
10
6
? J
) >
Postage . .
Subscription to Ento-
1
18
1
0
mologist
0
6
0
0
0
J J
Subscription to Ento¬
mologist’s Monthly
Magazme
1
10
0
? 5
Books and Binding
1
6
0
5 »
Dr. Balance Publication
Fund, 1905 ..
3
16
5
5 J
Dr. Balance Publication
Fund, 1906 . .
2
13
6
» >
Balance in Hand
11
11
6J
J U
£38
2
14
LIFE MEMBERSHIP FUND.
£ s. d. | £ s d
To 2 Subscriptions at £5 .. 10 0 0 j By Balance in hand (at
_ | Bank) .. . . 10 0 0
To Donations
,, Advts. in Transactions
,, Sale of Copies ..
,, Balance (transferred to
General Fund)
PUBLICATION FUND
£ s. d,
6 11 6
16 3
0 12 0
2 13 6
£11 3 3
C. P. Pickett (Hon. Treasurer.)
£ s. d.
By Cost of Printing Transac¬
tions for 1906 . . 11 3 3
£11 3 3
Examined and found correct.
Thos. H. L. Grosvenor) ,
Alfred J. Willsdon f Auditors.
16
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
By A. W. Mera.
After the Secretary’s report, which has just been read, it appears
unnecessary for me to go into any details concerning our Society,
beyond expressing satisfaction at the general progress we have made.
Considering the unusually poor season that we have just passed
through, I think we must agree that the amount of work done by the
Society has been most satisfactory.
I have often heard it remarked that a season is considered good or
had according to the amount of work each individual has done, and
consequently, what one Entomologist may consider a bad season,
another, who has worked harder, will consider very good ; hut be that
as it may, I cannot help coming to the conclusion that the season of
1907 has not been a good one. There is no doubt that the summer
has been abnormally cold, and to my knowledge there were night
frosts well into June in the neighbourhood of Brentwood in Essex,
where I then saw the young oak leaves blackened by frost ; and I
should think probably that not a month during the whole summer
passed without some night frosts.
It will he remembered that in the very early Spring there were a
few unusually hot days, which gave promise of a fine and early
summer, which, however, was quite delusive. During that early
burst of heat, I saw several hybernatecl Vanessidae on the wing, and
also a few Pieris rapae, which occurred as early as March the
29th and 31st. This is only the second time that I have ever seen
rapae as early as March, although I know it frequently does occur by
then ; but with my limited opportunities for observation (having to
spend most of my time when the sun is shining in the region of
Threadneedle Street), it was something like 40 years since I saw rapae
in March, and, strangely enough, on both occasions it was on a Good
Friday. After that short space of premature summer most of us
know what an unsatisfactory turn the weather took.
On June loth, in most unpropitious weather, our first excursion,
led by Mr. Edlesten, to Warley Common, was joined by a handful of
members, the party being well protected with water- boots, leggings,
and overcoats ; however, in spite of everything, we managed to have
a most enjoyable outing. Although our captures were naturally few,
some very interesting species were taken, including a black specimen
of Stauropus fagi.
On July 6th, under rather better climatic conditions, our second
excursion, to Chalfont Road, was led by Mr. Pickett. We were taken
through some magnificent country for collecting, but the day was too
dull for day flying insects, and the only one seen by me was a solitary
specimen of Lycaena icarus. Nevertheless, the weather was not had
enough to prevent moths from emerging, and a large number of
Spilote ulmata were seen, this being the insect of the day. For some
reason this species appeared to be more uniform in markings than it
17
was the year before, and I Avas led to understand that it was not so
numerous as formerly. Moreover, as far as I saAV, none of the
smoky leaden-coloured specimens were taken, as they were the year
before ; this form hitherto was considered to be confined to a certain
district in Yorkshire, where for several years it was taken in some
abundance, but now I am told that both the var. and type have
disappeared from this spot.
Our third excursion, which Avas conducted by Mr. GrosATenor, to
the Reigate district, Avas also favoured Avith only very moderate
weather, and although I was unable to join the party, I belie\'e only a
very moderate number of species Avere taken.
Perhaps it would not be out of place for me to emphasize the
desirability of members joining these outings, as I believe many of us
often neglect them. I have generally found that, if the day’s outing
has not added very considerably to the season’s total captures, it is
usually a most pleasant social gathering, besides frequently opening
up unfamiliar country, Avhich to a collector is always interesting and
instructive.
As might be expected Avith such a remarkably cold summer, some
insects delayed the time of their appearance to unusually late dates.
Among those that haA’e come under my notice, or have been taken by
myself, are Smerinthus tiliae on July 25th, at Forest Gate, another
being taken as late as September 15th, by Mr. Riches, in the north of
London. This, in an ordinary season, would have been put down for
a second brood, but following my record of the end of July it seems
moie than piobable that there has been only one brood. A ip grtnis
paphia was seen by Mr. Willsdon on September 30th, in South Devon;
some years ago I used to take this insect in some woods near Ipswich’
during the first half of July. Spilote grossulariata on September 18th,
also from South Devon, is another very late date, being a good three
months after our London garden specimens had made their appearance ;
but, doubtless, most of us have noticed that in normal seasons the
garden S. grossulariata are usually a month in advance of country-bred
specimens. H. semele, in South Devon, Avas quite fresh on September
18th ; this is an insect Avhich runs Avell into the autumn, but it is
seldom to be found in good condition during the latter part of September.
Pyramidea Avas also fresh on September 19th, and B. mar ails and C. elingu-
aria, both on September 18th, all from South Devon. • These two latter
species are perhaps not quite so remarkable, for although late, they are
both sometimes given to hold out for a very long time. " Agrotis cinerea
was taken at Freslnvater on July 24th, Avhich is a good six weeks late,
and Arctia villica on July 23rd, which is also long after the normal
time ; in the Willesden district, where I used to take the latter freely some
years ago, I always expected to find it fully out by June 8th, and
frequently it Avas to be seen some time before that date. Eremobia
ochroleuca, on September 21st, at Hazeleigh, Essex, is another belated
appearance. This may be considered tAvo months late, and finally
Ave come to Catocala nupta, which I saw on October 6th, at Leytonstone,
AA'hile two others were taken in good condition at Woodford on
October 11th, Avhich is certainly very late.
Another striking feature of the season has been that a large
number of insects that have been kept for ova, have proved infertile,
shoAving clearly that insects will not pair when the temperature is
18
abnormally cold. There has been some correspondence in some of the
journals remarking on the fact that insects have been seen remaining
in one position without moving for several nights in succession, and
it seems that with a low temperature moths of both sexes have no
inclination to move. I myself have noticed Spilosoma menthastri doing
the same thing. I have also tethered up a female A. prodr omari a, which
remained out a whole week without pairing, owing to a spell of cold
weather, and on another occasion in almost the same locality under
better climatic conditions, the looked-for result was brought about
almost immediately.
The interest taken in the capture of our rarer species or occasional
visitors is, perhaps, not so great as it used to be, but even allowing for
this, the number of specimens recorded this season still seems very
small. There is one notice of D. livornica being taken in the early part
of the year, and my friend, Mr. Willsdon, took a couple of L. vitellinci in
South Devon in September, but the other rareties which were in such
evidence last year, particularly L. eccigua, have entirely failed to establish
themselves, and H. peltigera, which last year was in great abundance in
Devonshire, has only turned up very sparingly. It is seldom that a
year goes by without some special insect being in extra abundance, but
it would appear that this year, both rare and common insects have
been adversely affected with but very few exceptions. Perhaps one
of the exceptions has been that of Mania tnaura, which at any rate in
some places has been unusually plentiful.
In the matter of rearing lame I have always been inclined to think
that cool weather is rather beneficial than otherwise, more particularly
when the larvae are kept indoors, as I have frequently noticed that a
burst of heat has proved most disastrous to many species ; but I learn
from some of the large breeders of insects in our society, that the
result of the year’s work has been anything but satisfactory. My own
experience has been very varied, commencing with an almost
complete failure with broods of Oporabia autumnaria and 0. Christyi,
with which genus I had hitherto been very successful, and the manner
of treatment of which was the same as before. On the other hand,
with that troublesome species T. opima , I was successful in getting about
100 to pupate. A little later on I was again unsuccessful with a
number of D. fascelina and N. zonaria lame, which were sent me from
Lancashire. These species are well-known to be difficult when sent
away from their native air, but as the fascelina were nearly fullgrown
when I received them, I reasonably hoped for better results. I once
before had an example of what appeared to be the change of air up¬
setting lame. I had been collecting some numbers of Heliothis
dipsaceus larvae on the Suffolk coast, and whilst staying there my
larvae were doing perfectly well, and some were pupating ; but on my
return home to London air the larvae began to sicken at once, and
scarcely another larva pupated. I had a few eggs of N. lapponaria and
I don’t think I lost a single larva, yet in some other years they have
been almost complete failures. With other commoner species,
T. consonaria so far has been a complete success, and D. falcula did
fairly well also ; but these two species are generally easy to manage.
As might be expected this has not been a year for any generally
single-brooded species to develop a second brood, but rather for double-
brooded species to lay over until the spring. This has been pointed
19
out to me as particularly noticeable in Pier is napi, which some of our
members have been breeding largely. Doubtless the weather again
has been responsible for the absence of our occasional visitors, or
perhaps has prevented the possibility of a solitary migrant perpetuating
the species for a time. In support of that, I may say that a friend of
mine had put out some foreign larvae of V. antiopa in Norfolk during the
early summer, and as far as I know none of the imagines have been
seen. It may have been an interesting experiment in some ways, but
from a collector’s point of view the advisability of the experiment is
somewhat doubtful.
The result of endeavouring to establish insects in new localities is
by no means uniformly successful, even in cases where environment
and climate seem all that can be desired. I have been told that many
attempts have been made to colonize K. vespertarici in positions in
Yorkshire similar to the original habitat, but in all cases the attempts
have proved useless. Personally, I never remember having the
satisfaction of seeing a new colony established by my own planting.
I once put out a large number of Z. filipendulae on what seemed to me
a likely spot, but I have never seen the sign of another since the day I
put them out. And I have also put out Liparis dispar, and these also
never occurred again. Perhaps one of the most successful results at
colonization that I have ever heard of was that of Limenitis sibylla
having been taken from St. Osyth, in Essex, to the woods a few miles
to the west of Ipswich, by one of the old Ipswich collectors named
Seaman. I never knew Seaman personally, for his collecting was
about finished when mine began, but it was a tradition handed down
that he brought sibylla to these woods, and certainly the insect was
steadily increasing for many years when I used to work the district.
I first took it there in the Sixties, when, if we saw half-a-dozen
specimens during the day, we thought them fairly numerous. By 1 885
the insect simply swarmed, and in 1894, when I was last there, it was
still to be found in large numbers, and now, I am told, it has extended
its range considerably beyond where I used to take it. Strangely
enough, this seems to be the only insect which, to my knowledge, has
increased in numbers within the last forty years in that locality. My
old companion, the late G. Garrett, of Ipswich, who was nearly forty
years my senior, often used to sigh over the lost species of his early
days, which occurred in this favoured spot, some of them being sinapis,
atlialia, promissa , sponsa, quadra, and versicolor, while I have seen
disappear, or almost so, iris, paphia, and adippe. It may be that
when an insect is newly introduced into a locality which is favourable
to its well-being, that the rate of increase is augmented by the absence
of its parasite, which might explain the increase of sibylla, while so
many other species disappeared from the same district. It seems as if
Callimorpha hera was a parallel example, although I have no very
reliable data to go on. It is believed by many entomologists that hera
was artificially introduced into Devonshire, and I think that there can
be no doubt that it has considerably increased in numbers of late years,
and also that it has extended its range very considerably. I believe
our friend Mr. Burrows has, to some extent, succeeded in introducing both
C. hera and A. sulphuralis to his own district, as certainly one wild hera
has been seen, and last year two sulphuralis were taken at light a short
distance from where the lame were put out two years before. This
20
seems to me to be a very remarkable case of colonization, as the
difference of soil and surroundings to the usual habitat of sulphuralis
is very great. It would seem feasible that a species newly arriving in
a strange locality might well escape its natural exterminators for a
good many years, and increase and multiply at a far greater rate for
some considerable time, until its enemies, in the form of parasites, had
found them out, and the balance of Nature was once more adjusted.
Touching on the increase of parasites in certain districts, I may
mention that forty years ago the larvae of Spilote grossulariata, which
I collected in the London district, were entirely free from any parasite
whatever, but some years later they began to be attacked. Last year
I gathered some 150 larvae and I should say certainly two-thirds of
them were stung by one or other of four different species of parasites.
It has often struck me, that many London insects are much more
given to be stung by parasites than the same species are in less
inhabited districts. The only reason that has ever suggested itself to
my mind, that might possibly produce that effect, is that there are so
few' purely insectivorous birds frequenting our London gardens, which
would probably tend to keep down the ichneumons to some extent.
In country districts, one or two species that appear to be most fre¬
quently stung, in and around London, are Acronycta psi and Acronycta
aceris. With these species it is quite a rare thing to find a larva that
is not stung, and yet in the country districts it is quite the reverse,
perhaps more particularly with psi. Smerinthus ocellatus is another
instance, and formerly Saturnia carpini was a most striking case ; but
that insect is no longer able to live in its old habitat as the place is now
covered with houses.
Before concluding, I should like to express my sincere thanks to
the officers of the society for the interest they have taken in carrying
out the work of the society. Many of the duties entail considerable
work and ability, and I think I am expressing not only my own
feelings, but those of all the members, when I tender our most sincere
thanks.
And lastly, I have again to thank you, gentlemen, for the confidence
you have reposed in me, in once more electing me as your President.
I trust that the coming year will show no backward movement in our
society, and that the many interesting phases of entomology will be
pursued as keenly as ever.
21
PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY.
THE VARIATION OF ENTEPHRIA CAESIATA.*
(Read December 18th, 1906, by LOUIS B. PROUT, F.E.S,)
In a paper published in the Entomologist two or three years ago,
on “ Some Recurrent Phases of Variation in the Larentiida, ,” ( Entom .,
xxxvii., pp. 151-156), I briefly referred — amongst many other illustra¬
tions to two of the named forms of Entephria ( Larentia ) caesiata ;
the first, on page 152, as ab. < ylaciata , Germ., and the other on
page 156, as ab. yelata, Guen. (misprinted “Germ.”). I was not at
that time working at the variation of this species in particular, but I
took it in hand very shortly afterwards, and soon discovered that
Staudiuger had been “playing fast and loose” with the varietal
nomenclature, in this as in some other cases. I shall show presently
that the name ab. gelata is not possibly tenable for the form to which
—following Staudinger— I applied it. ‘ Perhaps I shall be blamed for
not having verified it from original sources before having made
myself responsible for its use ; but while I hold, as strongly7 as any7-
one, that no revision of nomenclature should be undertaken without
first-hand consultation of the entire literature involved, I would point
out that general papers such as the one in question would hardly7 ever
get written at all, if it were not considered allowable to use the
standard lists or reference works pending further revisions. However,
as soon as I found that there were errors to be corrected, I determined
to revise this interesting species as thoroughly as possible, and this
evening’s contribution is a partial result. My interest in the subject,
on other and more important aspects than that of nomenclature, has
been continuously enhanced by the accessions of new material in my
collection ; and although a certain amount of this has been acquired
by purchase or exchange, y7et it is on occasions such as the present,
when I am surveying an extensive series of some variable species,
that I feel most keenly the magnitude of my indebtedness to such
kind friends as Dr. Chapman, Messrs. A. H. Jones, H. Rowland-
Brown, A. Bacot, and others, who so liberally make my collection a
receptacle for Geometrides collected on their travels.
* Entephria, Hb., Verz., p. 331 (1825?), Warr, Nov. Zool., xii., p. 332 (1905),
type flavicinctata, Hb. ; = Glaucopteryx, Hb., 1. c., p. 332 (1825?), Pack.,
Monogr., p. 66 (1876), type caesiata, Hb. ; = Larentia , [Tr. Schmett. Eur. v., 2,
p. 440 (1825), non sect. typ. ] Guen., Ur. et Phal. x., p. 266 (1858), type caesiata,
Hb. ; — Aplocera, Stph., Cat. Brit. Ins., ii., p. 141 (1829), type caesiata, Hb. The
true type of Larentia, Tr., is clavaria, Haw. (cervinata, Schiff.) as declared by
Stephens in 1831 (III. Haust., iii., p. 210). Duponchel had in 1829 (Hist. Nat.,
vii . , 2, p. 112) chosen dubitata, L., but this was invalid, not being in Treitschke’s
original genus ; and before he had published his next volume (1830), containing a
further revision of the genus, Stephens (Cat. Brit. Ins., ii., p. 129, 1829) had
restricted it to four species, only three of them Treitschkian, namely clavaria,
chenopodiata ( =limitata ) and bipunctaria.
22
It will, no doubt, be rightly assumed that it is the variation of the
imago of which I intend principally to speak ; but it may be of some
interest — and the title of my paper certainly does not preclude it — to
remark that “ The Variation of Entephria caesiata ” is by no means
confined to its final stage. The larva also is very variable, and
most of its forms are very gay. It seems to have been first made
known by Freyer, is briefly described by Guenee, and has more recently
been figured and described by Milliere (Sat. Sicil ., vi., p. 8, pi. i.»
fig. 16, 1886) and by Buckler ( Larvae , vii., p. 166, pi. cxxvii., fig. 3,
1897). The description in Buckler was supplied him by Hellins (Ent.
Mo. Ma<i., xii., p. 6), and gives two principal forms of the larva, the first
“ deep red-chocolate,” the second “ a deep bright green,” both having
the distinct dorsal ornamentation which makes it such a handsome
creature. Buckler figures two of the former main variety, one (fig. 36)
being green at the segment incisions. The food-plants, as recorded
by Hellins, by Staudinger, Frey, Hoffmann (Stett. Ent. Zeit., xlix.,
p. 174), and others, are chiefly the species of V actinium and Calluna,
though Frey (Lep. Schweiz, p. 231) also gives willow and, with a
query, young firs, while Milliere (Nat. Sicil., vi., p. 9) says that in
confinement it eats Primus, Crataegus, Cistus, and Geranium, but
prefers Convolvulus arvensis — i.e., is partially polyphagous. My own
acquaintance with the larva is based solely on some which Dr. Chapman
kindly sent me, fullfed, in July, 1900, from Pontresina, where he
found them feeding on rhododendron — an otherwise unrecorded food-
plant, I believe, though related to its favourite pabula. They seemed
to be mostly of the purplish-brown form, changing to green when
about to pupate, but it struck me that they had been definitely variable,
and some probably green throughout, at least, the final instar.
So far as is at present known, Entephria caesiata was first detected
as a species by Denis and Schiff’ermiiller, who published it in 1775
(Schmett. Wien., p. Ill), under the name of Geometra caesiata, placing
it in “ Family L ” (subsequently named Larentia by Treitschke,
Stinnett. Eur., v., 2, p. 440, 1825), with the “family” (generic)
characters as follow : Geometrae, Mediofasciatae — upper wings almost
as in the preceding” (i.e., “marked transversely on the upperside with
parallel, clustered, wavy lines”), marked with curved or waved trans¬
verse lines, yet with those in the central area of the wing more massed
together and darkened, so as to form a transverse band of almost equal
breadth throughout. The species (No. 6, p. 112) comes in section . ,
“forewings grey,” and is diagnosed as the “blue-grey, dark-striped
geometer,” the locality given being Styria. These particulars, taken
in conjunction with the testimony of Schiffermiiller’s contemporaries,
are amply sufficient for the recognition of the species, and Staudinger
should not have cited Lang, Verz. (1789) as the earliest authority for
the name.
Leaving out of consideration the varietal names, there are really
remarkably few synonyms for this species. It is, indeed, hard to
believe that Schrank, in his studies of the fauna of Bavaria, can have
remained unacquainted with it, especially as he clearly did not neglect
mountain collecting,* but a careful examination of the diagnoses of
* See, for instance, his Fauna Boica, ii., 2, pp. 51-52, alpinata (---quadrifaria,
Sulz.) and aarbonata ( = alpinata , Scop.).
23
his undetermined species has failed to discover any description at
all applicable to it. I can only record, at present, the following
synonyms : —
miata, Schwarz, Beytr., ii., p. 154, pi. xx. A., fig. 9 (1794), nec
Linn. [Schwarz also cites o-miata, Mull., in the synonymy, but,
although that species has never been determined, Muller’s description
shows it cannot belong here.]
infrequentata, Haw., Lep. Brit., p. 330 (1809). [Haworth’s caesiata,
taken commonly at Peckham in February, cannot have been the
“ Simon pure” unless the data supplied him were entirely erroneous;
his infrequentata, without exact locality, certainly represents caesiata,
and apparently a rather pale form, with the band fairly distinct,
though bifid at the costa, as in the type.]
pyrenaria (? auct.) ined., is stated by Lalanne (Man. Ent., p. 227,
1822) to be the name under which he has seen caesiata “ in one
collection.” I take this opportunity to express my dissent from the
view of Rothschild and Jordan (Revision of the Sphingidae) that no
useful purpose can possibly be served by recording “ museum ” or
other manuscript names in synonymy. On the contrary, I hold it a
duty to record them when they are known. It is not inconceivable
that cases might arise where important service would be done to
biological science by such a course ; it is well known that many able
writers are careless bibliographers, and may easily publish valuable
biological notes in connection with some “museum” name which
has never been published, their work, therefore, in the future becoming
almost useless. To some extent, I can instance actual cases. For
example, in 1816, a French entomologist, Lelorgne de Savigny,
published an important work under the title of Memories mr les
Amman. v sans Yertebres, in which he embodies some original studies in
the mouth parts of insects ; in the course of these there are anatomical
details given of four “inedited” species — Minyas polygoni, Strigina
goae, Ismene pelusia, and Lyndia cannarum. So far as I have been
able to learn, no other reference to these is to be found in literature ;
but I, for one, should be very grateful to any of his contemporaries
whom I might discover to have published a note to the effect that
such-and-such known species existed in the Paris Museum, or in
Savigny ’s private collection, under these names, even though the
publisher of the note might not have been aware that any other
elucidation depended upon it. One or two other, though less striking
cases, have come under my notice in my own studies of the literature
of the Geometridae — e.g., some observations of Scharfen berg’s in
Scriba’s Journal, in 1790, included certain “ nomina nuda ” which,
however, have become intelligible through their author’s own
determinations of them published fifteen years later (in Bechstein and
Scharfenberg’s Schddliche Furstinsekten, vol. iii.).
But I must not spend further time in this digression, as “ the
variation of Entepliria caesiata ” is awaiting more detailed consideration.
The type of the species is the ordinary German and Austrian form,
with bluish-grey tint and conspicuous dark band, and is fixed with
quite unusual clearness and unanimity. Not only does Schiffermiiller’s
meagre diagnosis point defininitely to this form, but the fuller
descriptions of Lang, Borkhausen, and Treitschke, and the figure by
Hubner (a little too blue, but recognisable) also represent the same.
24
In Central Europe, E. caesiata is not nearly so variable as in the far
North, or in many parts of Britain ; Frey, for instance (Lep. der
Schweiz, p. 231), says definitely that “compared with high-northern
examples (Norway and Iceland) the Swiss caesiata varies little.”
Some of the earliest references to supposed varieties were due to
confusion of the allied species with it. Thus several of the older
entomologists, even including Staudinger in his earlier days (cfr. Stett.
Ent. Zeit., xxii., p. 396), Speyer (Stett. Ent. Zeit., xx., p. 32), and
Guenee at first (Ur. et. Phal., ii., p. 273)* confused either E. flavi-
cinctata, lib., as a whole (Staudinger, Speyer), or in its darkened
Scotch form (Guenee), with the present species, calling it caesiata var.
flavicinctata; while one (Freyer, Beytr., v., p. 14, pi. 390, fig. 4) figures
as a var. of caesiata an example which is certainly in reality injidaria,
Lah. Even one quite modern writer, Giunppenberg (Nova Acta
Acad. German., liv., p. 390), has attempted to extend the limits of
the variation of E. caesiata by merging into it a form which has by
others been regarded as a distinct species ; this is the Asiatic ravaria,
Lah. (Verh. Zool.-bot. Ver. Wien, iii., p. 381, pi. vi., fig. 4), which I
shall have to mention later on, but which I may say at once is quite
evidently a good species.
The first genuine varieties or aberrations of Entephria caesiata to
attract attention were apparently those which were brought from
Iceland towards the middle of the last century, and those studied by
Zetterstedt in Lapland about the same period ; and these differed so
much fiom the typical form that it was not unnatural that — considering
the small amount of the material then available for comparison — they
were considered to be new species and named as such.
First, in chronological order, came Germar’s ylaciata (Faun. Ins.
Ear., xv., fol. 18, pi. 18, 1832), described and figured from Iceland,
and later recorded from Lapland by Zetterstedt (Ins. Lap., p. 959,
1838), who notes its similarity to caesiata and to his annosata. But
Staudinger was the first to point out (Stett. Ent. Zeit., xviii., p. 257)
that it, “with certainty belongs here” (i.e., to caesiata ) “as dark
variety.” He, however, there diagnoses it as “ var. a. Alis anticis
nigricantibus, $ 2 ,” which suggests the more extreme form (“ caesiata
var. A ” of Guenee), and remarks that it is led up to by a series of
aberrations differing in the degree of the darkening. Germar’s own
diagnosis of his form, was as “ fuscous grey,” showing the inter¬
mediate paler fascite as “ hoary,” or “ more whitish ” ; that is, it was
an average darkened form, and not the very extreme thing which is
sometimes met with, e.y., in Britain, and which is the “ caesiata var.
A ” of Guenee (Ur. et Phal., ii., p. 272).
Next Zetterstedt (Ins. Lapp., p. 962, 1839) introduced us to
annosata, likewise assumed to be a new species, although compared
with caesiata, to which he had evidently noticed its resemblance.
Probably, like ylaciata, it was described from a single specimen only ;
he says : “ Hah. in Lapponia rarissime” and that it was discovered in
the mountains of Dalecarlia by Boheman, and kindly sent him for
describing. He distinguishes it from caesiata by its rather smaller
* It will be remembered that later in the same volume (p. 544) Guenee having
received further material from Doubleday, re-described this Scotch flavicinctata as
rujicmctata, n.sp., which name (as varietal) has priority over var. obscurata, Stgr.
(C (it., p. 299, 1901).
25
size, the wings not glaucescent, the medial band entire, not bifid at its
extremity, etc. Typical caesiata, as he rightly points out, has the
dark medial band “bipartite on the costa” {loc. cit., p. 962). The
ground colour of annosata is said to be hoary, the forewings irrorated
with cinereous, the hindwings hoary whitish. Except at the first,
when Staudinger {IStett. Ent Zeit., xxii., p. 396) erroneously gave it
for an extreme phase of ab. glaciata, the name has always been rightly
applied to the aberrations with the central area more strongly and
uniformly darkened, but (like glaciata in another direction) it grades
off into the typical forms through intermediates.
Several years later, Guenee {hr. et Phal., ii., p. 271, 1858)
published another “ species,” under the name of gelata. It was
obtained from Iceland, and, as I shall show, was practically identical
with glaciata, Germ., to which of course it must sink. But as Guenee
examined a larger material than his predecessor, it is not surprising
that the series should have included an interesting aberration, which,
according to his wont, he describes as “ var. A,” but does not name ;
nor is it surprising, considering the beauty of this form, that he should
have selected it for figuring (pi. 11, fig. 6). What is surprising — or
would be so, but that the caprice and vagaries of nomenclators are only
too familiar— is that Staudinger {Cat., ed. ii., p. 187, 1871) should
have chosen to employ the name of “ ab. gelata, Guen,” for the
aberration A instead of for the form for which it was invented. That
Guenee’s gelata is, for all practical purposes, a synonym of glaciata,
Germ., is shown by his description of it as dull, fuliginous brown-
black, with the fascite which border the central area “ hardly lighter
grey” than the ground colour. Germar, as his figure and description
show, happened upon a specimen with rather whiter hindwings than
usual; Guenee’s form had them “silky pale grey.” On the whole,
then, as will be seen by comparing the two summaries which I have
given, gelata is simply a rather extreme phase of the darkened Iceland
aberration glaciata, Germ.
The beautiful extreme form, “ gelata var. A ” of Guenee, with the
ground colour nearly white, and with practically no markings excepting
the dark central fascia, has never yet been named. Staudinger first
called attention to it in his “ Reise nach Island ” {Stett. Ent. Zeit.,
xviii., p. 257), indicating it as “ var. b. al. ant. niveis, area basali
mediaque grisea nigris $ ? but not naming it. It is certainly
recurrent in Iceland, though probably not frequent even there ;
Staudinger obtained two of the extremes {$ and J) in his visit to
that country, and says {loc. cit., p. 258) that the}rwere “ from the north
of Siglufjordr, as in general this inclination to whitening is shown
almost exclusively in examples from the north. In the lightest
specimen from the south, the dusting is especially yellowish, particu¬
larly on the nervures.” Guenee seems only to have regarded two of
the Iceland specimens -which he had seen as gelata, for he gives Iceland
among the localities for caesiata also, and says of his new species :
“ Island Coll. Mus. une $ provenant du voyage de la Recherche”
and of var. A: “Mernes provenance et collection.” He describes the
latter as “grey almost white, and without lines or atoms, with the
basal and medial areas of a fuliginous black as in the type. Inferiors
with a single line.” His figure agrees, showing precisely the same form
as one Iceland example in the British Museum collection, and a
26
specimen sent to me by Staudinger and Bang-Haas as “ ab. (jelata."
The locality given me for this, by the way, was “Greenland,”
but this was probably by a mere oversight ; at any rate, I
should not feel sufficient faith in a dealer’s locality to make use of it
for a faunistic record. E. caesiata is not supposed to occur in Green¬
land at all; see, for instance, Aurivillius’ “ Gronlands Insektsfauna I.”
(Bih. Svensk. Yet. Ah. Handl., xv., Afd. iv., No. 1, 1890), which gives
of Geoinetridae, only Dasyuris polata, Hb., a doubtful Eupithecia
(? nanata, Hb., var.), Operophtera brumata, L., and Psychophora sabini,
Kirb. One fine specimen of the form in question (“ ab. yelata ”) is
recorded by Schneider from Tromso ( Troms . Mus. Aarsh., xv., p. 82).
As this form {yelata var. A of Guenee) is still without a name, I
propose to name it ab. prospicuata,* since it is certainly the most
outstanding form of the species ; in a sense it may be said to continue
the line of variation suggested in ab. annosata, Zett., but it is incom¬
parably more extreme.
The next form named was inventaraia, Grote {Bull. U. S. Geol. and
Geayr. Sure., vi., p. 591, 1882), which may really be, as Grote believed,
a distinct species. I can say verv little about it at present, having
failed to trace, in our museum, the specimens which will serve as its
types. The history of the name is as follows. In 1881, Dr. A. G.
Butler received for the British Museum, some examples of North
American Geometrides from Mr. H. Edwards, and on these he published
some notes in the American periodical “ Papilio,” vol. i.. pp. 220-228
(December, 1881). Amongst the notes we read (p. 222): “ ‘ Glau-
cnpteryx caesiata, Hiibner.’ Two specimens, Havilah, California.
This is not the European G. caesiata, the latter has the outer edge of
the broad belt across the primaries regular and dentated, whereas this
species is more like G. kollariaria with a regular sinuated band. I
doubt the occurrence of G. caesiata in America, although Packard’s
figure looks rather like the species; it is probable that the insect before
me is undescribed.” Next year, Grote came to the same conclusion ;
he writes {loc. cit.) : “ After comparing European specimens with our
own, I have made the two following changes in our lists,” and the
first of these changes is : “ Glaucopteryx inventaraia, Gr., for Gl.
caesiata\ Butler, Papilio, i., 222” [the j indicates the invalidity of the
name, i.e., “ caesiata, Butler, nec Lang,” as the “ Zoological Kecord ”
enters it] . Grote probably meant to write inventaria, and has his
printer to thank for the ungainly name, as well as for several other
misprints ; but of course the published form must be followed. As I
have not found Butler’s Havilah specimens in the nmiseum series of
caesiata, I suspect they turned out to be some entirely different species
and have been removed to a more appropriate position, though Mr.
Warren tells me he has no recollection of them ; I shall hope to light
upon them some day. Although it is by no means certain, perhaps
hardly even probable — that Grote’s American examples which he
“ compared with European ” were really the same thing as Butler’s,
yet as he has given no trace of description, and has expressly erected
the “ n. nora.” on a reference to Butler, it is quite clear that its
application will necessarily be to the specimens partially described in
* Since reading this paper I have published it under this name, Ent. Rcc.,
xix., p. 22.
27
“ Papilio.” Of the other American forms or representative species I
shall speak later on, as they have as yet (with one possible exception)
received no names.
The next name in chronological order was var. impallescens, Christ.,
described from Kurusch, Caucasus, as follows: “Minor. Alis angusti-
oribus, anticis albidis, dense fusco-conspersis, lineis transversis
undulatis minus expressis” (“ Lepidoptera Nova Faunae Palaearcticae,”
Iris., vi., p. 95, 1893). It will be observed that Christoph rightly
erected this as a var. of caesiata, not as a new species. Staudinger
(Cat., ed. 3, p. 299) indicates that it occurs also in Labrador as a var.,
but considers it an unimportant one — “ vix nominanda.” His
diagnosis does not give precisely the same impression as Christoph’s ;
it runs : “ alis minus dense squamatis, semidiaphanis.” I have not
seen specimens from either locality, so will not hazard further coment.
Of the Labrador form, Moschler writes : “ I possess four examples of
this species from different localities in Labrador. They vary very
little inter se, are of the ordinary size, and the colour is rather dull and
uniform, but much more like that of the German caesiata than that
which is exhibited by my Finmark examples, to which, however, they
come near in respect of the slight darkening of their markings ” ( Stett .
Ent. Zeit., xliv., p. 122). In the Vienna “ Verhanulungen ” (xxxiv.,
p. 301) he gives nearly the same description, making them agree with
the German form in the “ greenish ” coloration of the forewings.
The most recent addition to the varietal nomenclature is var.
norregica, Strand (Nyt. May. Eat., xl., p. 165, 1902), erected for the
Norwegian forms in a paper on the Lepidoptera of (chiefly) Arctic
Norway, and which might be diagnosed as : minor (24-31 min.), alis
anticis magis unicoloribus, griseis. Strand’s actual description of it
gives more detailed measurements, taken from 33 specimens, and
some comparison Avith other forms, but the whole gist of it is contained
in the diagnosis I have suggested here; he says “they are of smaller
size ” (than those of central Europe), “ and of a much more uniform
grey colour. Ab. norvegica is not confined to the arctic regions,
individuals from southern Nonvay must also be referred thereto.”
Its author mentions this form again two years later (Nyt. Mag. Nat.,
xlii., p. 140, 1904) and records some localities from southern Norway —
where it seems far scarcer than in the north — but adds nothing else
to our knowledge of it.
The only other forms which it appears to me convenient to
designate by special names, are two rather extreme aberrations,
namely, the most extreme dark form ( caesiata var. A of G uenee),
which, after Staudinger, has been passing as ab. glaciata, Germ. ; and
the form which occasionally turns up in this species, as in so many of
its allies, Avith the central band extremely narroAV, and incomplete, or
broken. The former I aauII call
ab. nigricans, mihi, n. ab. — caesiata Arar. A, Gn., Ur. et Phal., ii. p.
272 = caesiata var. a, Stgr., Stett. Ent. Zeit., xviii.,p. 257 (“ alis anticis
nigricantibus ”) =caesiata ab. glaciata, Stgr., Cat. (pro parte) = caesiata
var., Barr., Lep. Brit., viii., pi. cccxlviii., fig. 1 g. This aberration has
the wings blackish and more or less glossy, Avhereas ab. glaciata,
Germ ,—gelata, Gn. is much less extreme, being rather of a fuscous
grey, or at the darkest, of a “ dead ” (“ mate ”) fuliginous colour.
That I am justfied in separating the tAvo is shoAvn not only by my own
28
material as exhibited this evening, but also by Guenee’s work ; for, as
the above synonymy shows, he did not even recognize them as co-
specific, much less as varietally equivalent.
The other new form may be known as ab. constricta, mihi, n. ab.
— caesiata var., Barr., Lep. Brit., viii., p. 153, pi. cccxlviii., fig. lc, Id.
Central fascia extremely narrowed, and more or less broken on the
inner marginal half of the wing. This is, of course, the phase of
“ recurrent variation in the Lcirentiidae ” discussed by me on pp. 153-5
of my paper in the “ Entomologist ” (vol. xxxvii.), and I have followed
Strand’s lead, as there alluded to (p. 155), by employing the name of
constricta for it.
It will be worth while, in view of the additions and corrections
proposed above, to tabulate the named varieties and aberrations of
Entephria caesiata, before concluding with some remarks on its geo¬
graphical variation in general and on the question of its American
representatives.
Entephria caesiata, Schiff.
1. caesiata, Schiff., Lang, Hb. Blueish-grey, with well-defined dark
central band enclosing a pale area on costa.
2. ab. infrequentata, Haw. Inclining to cinereous, with the fuscous
band as in the type. This may be used, after Guenee, for the some¬
what paler forms which are fairly frequent in Britain, though it is
really almost synonymous with the type form.
3. ab. annosata, Zett. Central band entire, i.e., not enclosing a
pale area on the costa.
4. ab. (var. ?) glaciata (Keferstein M.S.) Germ, —gelata Gn. Darker
(brown or more fuscous) than the type, generally weakly marked, and
not brightly glossy. In spite of the variability of the species in Iceland,
I believe this description applies to a very great majority of the
specimens from that country, and that it ought to be regarded as “ var.”
rather than “ab.”
5. ab. prospicuata, mihi =gelata var. A, Gn.— gelata, Stgr. Ground
colour whitish, central band dark.
6. ab. nigricans, mihi = caesiata var. A, Gn. = glaciata, Stgr. More
or less uniform blackish or deep fuscous, darker and more glossy than
ab. (var. ?) glaciata Germ.
7. ab. constricta, mihi. Central fascia much narrowed and more
or less broken ( vide supra).
8. var. impallescens, Christ. (Caucasus). Smaller and narrower
than the type, wings whitish, densely sprinkled with fuscous, wavy
transverse lines indistinct.
9. var. norvegica, Strand (Norway). Smaller than the type, wings
much more uniform in their tone, the prevailing colour grey.
?10. var. (?) inventaraia, Grote (California). Said to differ in the
contour of the central fascia ; perhaps a distinct species (vide supra).
In the British Islands, Entephria caesiata is subject to a good deal
of variation, though all the examples known to me would have to be
catalogued under Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 of the above-enumerated forms,
unless, perhaps, some of the Shetland specimens are true glaciata.
Most of the forms could probably be obtained in almost any locality
where the species occurs at all full}7, provided sufficient material were
collected. Certainly my friend Mr. Arthur Horne, of Aberdeen, got
29
together a very fine variable lot, by taking it in large numbers at the
Hill of Scolty. The pretty, light-grey forms with distinct markings
( infrequentata , Haw.), which generally turn up amongst a British
series must, I think, be rarer on tbe Continent, though I have one or
two from Simplon and Arolla running towards them. I have said
that I do not consider this a thoroughly well-differentiated “ab.,” nor
do I feel certain that Haworth’s “ subcinereis ” quite represents it,
though his citation to his infrequentata of “? cyanata, Hb.” favours
Guenee’s idea that he must have been dealing with a pale form, and
as Guenee’s interpretation seems to have priority, it is best to follow
it. Stephens (Cat. Brit, Ins., ii., p. 141 ; List Brit. Anim., v., p. 194)
also cites infrequentata as a “ var.” of caesiata, but gives no diagnosis.
On the whole, British examples average somewhat smaller than those
from central Europe, the normal measurements, as taken from my
series, being respectively 30-33mm. and 32-35mm. I have seen the very
dark forms ( nigricans , mihi), from several localities, such as Shetland,
Paisley, North Wales (Leech coll.), Yorkshire, etc. Possibly a better
percentage are obtainable from the Shetlands than elsewhere, though
Hoffmann (Stett. Ent. Zeit., xlv., p. 369), assumes that Shetland
specimens do not differ from the rest of the Scotch, since Jenner Weir
does not particularly mention the species ; and he (Hoffmann) adds a
foot note that he has seen caesiata from Arran with deep black-grey
forewings, only shot with white on the nervures ( i.e ., ab. nigricans), thus
forming a sharp contrast to the washed-out grey forms which he has
seen from Iceland (? glaciata) and the north of Norway (norvegica). A
few Shetland specimens which I have seen show the brownish colour
of ab. (var. ?) glaciata, but it is difficult to judge of tbe exact status of
this form without access to fresh bred specimens, as both wear and
fading are apt to make them appear more brownish. Barrett mentions,
in addition to various aberrations, what may possibly be a local race,
but as I have not been able to study it, I can say nothing on the
subject at first hand. His words are : “ Lastly, specimens from
North Wales seem to show a faint tinge of green, and are otherwise
dull and shaded off.” For the most part, as he says, the colour
variations in this species “do not appear to be local” to an)' material
extent.
The general run of European forms (excluding the Arctic) may be
treated together. They belong mainly to the type form and ab.
annosata, with an occasional ab. nigricans. The British Museum
collection has fairly definite examples of the latter from the Mutzell
collection (one, ? locality), and the Zeller collection (one from Freyer,
? locality, and another from Stelzing), but these are pretty uniformly
dark, without such distinct white dots as are inclined to appear on our
British ab. nigricans. There is also a curious dark specimen from the
Frey collection (Engadine) which looks almost as if it might be a
a melanic example of some other species of Entephria, perhaps on
account of the distinct double row of white dots, the depth of the
arches in the subterminal, and the darkened hind-wings, recalling those
of caeruleata, Guen. (? flavicinctata, var.), but which I have decided is
veritable caesiata ; this is presumably the specimen recorded by Frey
( Lep . Schweiz, p. 231) as taken in 1853. To the ill-defined ab. annosata
may be referred two from the Zeller collection (one “ Schlucken-Alp,”
from Freyer, the other Baibl), one from the Leech collection (Denmark)
30
and possibly others. I possess two which have been sent me under
this name, but which are only moderately representative of the form,
one from Finland, and one from Hochschwab. Most of the continental
local lists record it as more or less general, but this does not
necessarily imply extreme phases, of it. My only specimen from
Alsace is large and rather light, with more of a yellowish tinge than
the rest of my series. Among those which I bred from Pontresina
are one or two of the form of which Barrett speaks admiringly, and
which might almost be worth naming, in which the pale area ( i.e ., of
the ground colour) in the middle of the central fascia is continued
right across the wing, leaving only quite narrow bars, or boundary¬
lines darkened. Of the Esthonian form Petersen writes ( Lep . Estl.,
p. 130) : “In general our examples are darker than those of central
Europe ” ; but the two which he kindly sent me hardly bear out this
impression.
Arctic or high northern specimens are generally smaller*, and less
sharply marked than those of central Europe, and this applies in a
general way to those of both northern Scandinavia (var. norvegica) and
of Iceland (ab. or var. glaciata, etc.) ; yet there are definite differences
observable between the two races. The Icelandic seem, on the whole,
to be about the size of the British, the Norwegian, on the -whole, smaller
still (see Strand’s description of var. norvegica, supra). The former,
though very inconstant, and abounding in interesting aberrations,
favour a brownish tone ; the latter, with really extreme aberrations
comparatively rare, tend much more to greys. The former are very
generally darker than the type, the latter often hardly darkened at all
though Schneider ( Troms . Mus. Aarsli., xv., p. 82) calls his race
“ melanotic,” and Wocke (S tett. Ent. Zeit., xxv., p. 188) says that
examples from Dovrefjeld are mostly very dark grey, entirely without
yello-w dusting. Iceland, as already mentioned, is the home of the
beautiful ab. prospicuata, and my series from that country also con¬
tains two of the most decided ab. annosata I possess (both from
Thingvellir), one of them with the ground colour becoming pale, i.e.,
making some approach to ab. prospicuata. Sometimes, on the contrary,
the darkening of the whole wing is so extreme as to produce practically
ab. nigricans, differing chiefly from the British in its browner hue.
As regards the North American forms or representatives, there
is still much work to be done. I can add nothing to what I have
said on the Labrador form ; but Moschler was such a good entomo¬
logist, that I am satisfied to accept his dictum as to its specific identity
with ours. Nevertheless, it by no means follows from this that the
forms recorded from Alberta, Colorado, California, etc., or even from
New Hampshire and Massachusetts are the same; Labrador is well-
known to have a fauna which is essentially Arctic, and, we might
say, essentially European. Packard, to be sure, introduces, E. caesiata
as American on an apparently abundant material ; for he describes
( Monogr ., p. 67) from “ 40 $ and 40 $ .” But the majority of those
seem to have been from Labrador (see p. 68), and the examples sent
him from Iceland and the Austrian Alps (p. 69) may also have been
pressed into the service for describing, as his “ American specimens
* Large specimens occur occasionally as an “ ab.” at Bossekop ; two given
me by Mr. H. Rowland-Brown measure 36 and 34mm.
31
are rubbed.” Still, he bad from other localities what seemed to him
to agree entirely with those from Labrador, for he records also the
White Mountains and Mount Washington in New Hampshire, some
localities in Colorado, and Massachusetts. His description would
seem to fit Entephria caesiata, or, perhaps, Barrett suggests, E. jiavi-
cinctata — for he rather emphasizes the “ golden scales.” His figure
(pi. viii., fig. 16) could quite possibly represent the form of caesiata
with the entire centre of the medial band pale, though it has rather
an unfamiliar look; it does not show a discal spot on the hindwings,
but this is mentioned in the description as “ distinct.” I cannot find
that he says from which locality the figured specimen came. Of the
variation in America he only says that the specimens from near
Georgetown, Colo. (8000-9000ft. elevation), have, “ perhaps, more
golden scales” than others, and that the Labrador examples are a
little stunted, agree with those from Iceland as to general appearance
and size, but are not quite so dark, and have more golden yellow
specks. He has seen no specimens from the United States or
Labrador with such clear markings as those received from the
Austrian Alps.
Butler and Grote follow with their notes on E. inventaraia
(? n. sp.) already quoted; Grote, it will be observed, does not make
any direct reference to Packard’s figure or description, though he
seems to assume that the whole of the American forms are of one
species, and that a different one from the European caesiata. After
this, I find no American reference till 1896, when Iiulst (Tr. Amer.
Ent. Soc. xxiii., p. 281) transfers caesiata to the genus Mesoleuca (type
albicillata, L.), but throws no further light on its determination. In
Dyar’s “ List” (p. 280, 1902) it still appears as “caesiata, Denis and
Schiff.” ( i.e ., as — the European species); “ aurata, Pack.” (which I
cannot trace) is added as a synonym, and “ inventaria, Grote ” ( inven¬
taraia ) stands as a variety. Finally, my good friend Mr. F. H.
Wolley Dod, in his valuable Alberta List, records ( Canad . Ent.,
xxxviii., p. 93, 1906) two forms which have been referred by
Mr. Taylor to this species; (1) the “ Laggan form” with a “faint
though obvious ochreous tinge,” and (2) two specimens taken near
Calgary in 1904 and 1905, having the ground colour paler, “ with
distinct smoky central and terminal bands.” Mr. Dod has very
kindly sent me two of the Laggan specimens, and I feel sure that they
represent a distinct species ; the different tone, silky texture, absence
of distinct discal dot on hindwing, shiny, unmarked undersurface, etc.,
all point to this. Indeed they are much closer to ravaria, Led., from
the Altai and Ala Tau districts, and might almost be co-specific with
this, or at least with two rather doubtful specimens in the British
Museum collection, which are treated as ravaria, and which were
collected by McArthur at “ Kokser ” and “ Rala.” Concerning his
forms Mr. Dod wrote me (in lift., June 9th, 1906): “ caesiata certainly
seems to me to contain more than one North American species. I
believe I treat of two in my list ( q.v .), and strongly suspect that that
of the Ivaslo list* is a third. Mr. Taylor, by the way, admits that
* “ The lepidoptera of the Kootenai District of British Columbia,” by Dr.
H. G. Dyar ( Proc . U.S. Nat. Mus., xxvii., pp. 779-938, 1904). Here we simply
find recorded (p. 896) 28 specimens, dates in June and August to September, which
“ indicate two broods,” and that “ this is a high altitude species.” — L.B.P.
32
the Laggan form may be distinct, and I have seen what looks to me
like the Calgary species (two specimens only taken) at the coast as
caesiata.” I do not think I have yet sent European cciesiata to my
valued correspondent the Rev. G. W. Taylor, nor can I find that I
have had any correspondence with him on the species. I sent it to
the other chief student of Geometridae across the Atlantic, Mr. R. F.
Pearsall of Brooklyn, and he wrote me : “ Your caesiata I have not
critically compared as yet, but it looks just like specimens I take in
the Catskill Mountains. I have seen another series taken in White
Mountains near Hampshire, with the yellow markings of caesiata a
bright golden, and heavier. Does this correspond to your species
flavicinctata ! ” {in litt., December 26th, 1905). Later (January 14th,
1906), he added : “ I think I wrote you that your caesiata and ours
are the same.” The matter has not yet proceeded further.
The British Museum only possesses one American example, and
this is in very bad condition. It was sent by Mr. Cockerell from
Colorado, as “ caesiata, f. minor,” and looks, as far as can be made out,
a true caesiata, though — like the Laggan species, and Packard’s figure
— it seems to have the discal dot of the hindwing obsolescent.
A photograph of Hulst’s type of Philereme multivagata ( Bull .
Brookl. Ent. Soc., iv., p. 26, 1881), very kindly sent me by Mr. Taylor,
also looks extremely like a large specimen' of Entephria caesiata, only
with a dark margin to the hindwing.; ,>yet it is difficult to see how
Dr. Hulst could, in this case, have placed it in the genus Pldlereme
( Scotosia ).*
On the whole, it seems best to conclude that the true caesiata, or
something extremely near it, does occur in several parts of North
America, but that another species is mixed up with it — perhaps more
than one — and awaiting further study and differentiation. The
present would not be a suitable place for naming the ravaria- like
Laggan species, which, on my assumption of its distinctness, has
really no place in a paper on the variation of Entephria caesiata. My
task for this evening is therefore accomplished, although you will see
that there is still need for further sorting-out of the numerous cognate
forms in this interesting group.
* Since writing this paper I have received a fine specimen of multivagata, and
find it is a true Entephria, closely related to caesiata, but distinct.
Some North Sutherland Lepidoptera.
1 C. bilineata 3 ab.
m M ? ab.
3. C. pectinitaria ab.
4. A. leporina ab.
1. F. piniaria ? ab.
2
» J 1 J 1 J
3 ■ ii ii ii
4
^•ii ii ii
1. C. corylata
var. albrocrenata.
2 C. corylata ab.
^•ii ii ii
4
ii ii n
5
•-'•ii ii ii
[To /ace p. 33.
83
NOTES FROM NORTH SUTHERLAND.*
(Read January 15th, 1907, by E. A. COCKAYNE.)
The north-west corner of Sutherland, lying midway between the
Orkneys and Shetlands to the east and the Hebrides to the west, ought
to be interesting from the entomological point of view. The position
of the country, and the fact that little has been written about its larger
insects, are my excuses for reading these notes, made during a visit of
only fourteen days, and therefore necessarily very incomplete. Un¬
fortunately I have not had time to look up recent records in the
magazines, and where I mention that an insect has not been taken in
Sutherland before, I mean that such record is not to be found in
Meyrick’s handbook or Barrett’s British Lepidoptera. Notes in
brackets on the northern limit of range previously recorded are those
given by Barrett, whose nomenclature is also used.
I will begin with a brief description of the district. Tongue, my
headquarters, is a small village forty miles from the nearest railway
station, from which one has to travel through a bleak and cheerless
country of grassy hills, which rise gently on the western side and fall
abruptly on the east. One travels for miles without seeing a single
tree.
The Kyle of Tongue, on which the village is situated, is a shallow
inlet of the sea, into which the Kinloch river, the Allt Rhian and other
streams pour their Avaters. It is protected at the mouth by the
picturesque Rabbit Islands, and half Avay up is almost bridged by a
long strip of sand which runs out from the Tongue woods. The
western side is Ioav, bare and rocky ; the eastern rises steeply from the
Avater to a height of 400 to 500 feet, and is in places clothed AA'ith
stunted lichen-coArered birch trees and, here and there, a rowan or
aspen. Past the mouth of the Rhian the land is flat and cultRated as
far as the Tongue woods.
These are fairly extensive, and the trees are large. The lower part
is leArel and grassy, and consists chiefly of beech, Avych elm and lime.
Further back it runs up a steep slope, on AArkich many pines and
mountain-ashes grow, and culminates at about 900 feet in a growth of
small pines and open heathery moor. The Rhian is bordered by Ioav
alders, rowans and salloAvs, and in places runs through woods of small
birches. On the side farthest from the village are meadows with
bracken and coarse grasses, and between these and the sea is a wood,
An-garbh-chnoc, Avith pine, spruce, larch, roAvan, birch, beech and
alder, on a hill about 400 feet high. Owing to our limited time we
almost confined our search to the district described, which includes
the most fertile, and some of the Avilder parts of the neighbourhood.
On our first day, June 30th, Ave found numbers of lanrgeof Cleoceris
vivdnalis on salloAvs near the Rhian, and took some of the largest, from
Avhich Ave bred 27 imagines on July 29th, and the tA\ro folloAving days.
Compared Avith my Rannoch specimens the number of dark forms
With plate presented by the author.
34
(6 out of 27) is somewhat less than from that district (19 out of 59),
and they emerged just 20 days later than these. One is a nice dark
grey specimen with orbicular and reniform encircled with white. We
then climbed a hill overlooking the Kyle, and had a good view of the birch
woods below. The trees were thinly covered with leaves and in places
were almost as brown and bare as in winter. While we were looking, a
party of about twenty black-headed gulls ( Larus ridibundus ) dew over
and made their way to the barest part of the wood. Here they
dropped to a level with the topmost twigs, and then each in turn kept
checking its flight, hovering for a moment and appearing as if about
to settle, then Hying on to another tree, where it would repeat the
same manoeuvre.
It Avas quite evident they were obtaining food, and our curiosity
Avas aroused. When we had climbed down to the Avood, Ave Avere in no
doubt as to the nature of the attraction. Every birch was coArered
with thousands and thousands of fullgroAAm larvae of Hybernia pro-
gemmaria of every shade from pale to darkest broAvn. Threads of matted
silk hung from tree to tree, and tangled groups of hanging larvae clung
to our clothes as Ave AAralked under the branches. Amongst the host of
larvae Avere a few of H. defoliaria, Cheirnatobia boreata and C. brumata.
Curiously enough, I find no record for the county of any of the first
three of these. Barrett states that II. progeinmaria is scarce in
Aberdeenshire, for II. defoliaria he gives Argyle and Perth, and for C.
boreata, Boss and Moray as the Northern limit.
For the next feAv days Ave saw parties of gulls feeding in this Avay,
sometimes only tAvo together, usually four or five, but on July 3rd we
saw quite fifty or sixty together, steadily AArorking from end to end of
the wood.
A day or two later there Avas scarcely one, and, on looking at the
trees, I found that almost all the Arast multitude of larvne had vanished.
The trees, many without a single leaf, and only the leaf stalks to shoAV
where they had been, alone bore testimony to their recent presence.
These Avoods appear to have few moths in them : Cymatophora duplaris,
Platypteryx lacertinaria (neAv, very locally Clydesdale, Argyle and Ross)
and Coremia pectinataria were captured. In the afternoon we met with
more success in the Avood, An-garbh-chnoc. Here we saAV Ephyra
pendidaria (neAV to county, Ross and Moray), Coremia montanata ,
Fidonia piniaria, Venusia cambrica (new : Argyle), Melanippe tristata
(the usual broAvn and Avhite Scottish form), M. subtristata (a clear black
and Avhite form), Thera variata (neAv : Moray in east to Hebrides in
Avest), Eupithecia lariciata (? neAv), E. satyrata, and several Cidaria
corylata (neAv : Moray and W. Ross).
The last species Avas past its best. The variety albocrenata
was far commoner than at Rannoch, and I should think about
30% Avere of this form instead of about 5%. The majority of
the corylata were of the broken-barred form, but a good many
exhibit a complete central band. In one specimen, a fine female,
the costal half only is present, and very clearly defined. I have not
seen any description of a similar specimen. The series of var. albo¬
crenata — I include under this term, those specimens in which the
central hand is more or less frosted with white scales, and not limited
by black outer and inner lines — show a complete parallelism Avith the
ordinary forms. In most the central band is interrupted, but in a
85
good many it is complete, and in one or two even broad ; in a few
nothing of it remains but the black discoidal spot, in others only the
costal half is seen. One is rather a rich cream colour.
In contrast with this, I have only met Avith broken-barred forms
both in ordinary corylata, and in var. albocrenata in the Rannoch
district. The lines, too, in the submarginal region are much blacker
in Rannoch albocrenata, and the transverse line between the basal area
and the central band is darker. The Tongue specimens are more
uniformly pale.
Near this wood we found larva? of Corernia didymata, from which
a normal female imago was bred, of Cidaria te.stata and Poecilocampa
populi (new : Moray and Argyle).
At night I sugared some birch trees, but the only visitor was
another ■populi larva, which was enjoying a comfortable supper of rum
and treacle. From these and others I bred a pale male and a dark
female imago. With the lantern I found a Corernia propuqnata and
Cabera pusaria, of which Barrett says “ to Moray if not beyond.” It
proved to be very common, and I took one slightly damaged specimen
in which the first and central lines are approximated, as in the var.
rotund aria (a form only recorded once from Scotland), but more so on
the right than on the left.
Next day July 1st, was dull and cold, and we found little except
one worn Cidaria suffumata (new : Moray and Hebrides), Phytometra
renea (new : Moray and Argyle), Melanthia ocellata, Hepialus velleda,
and one Emmelesia blandiata, the last named on the underside of a
beech branch. Doubtless the insect was common near the river,
where its foodplant was plentiful, but in my experience it is very
hard to find in the daytime. In the Rannoch district, though flying
abundantly at dusk, I have only found one at rest on a rock, and two
or three on tree-trunks.
On a strip of damp ground near the river E. albulata (typical) was
abundant, and Tanagra chaerophyllata occurred, the latter new
(Aberdeen and Moray). I found it in many other places later.
Here we found a dozen nearly fullfed larvas of Trichiura crataeyi
(new : Aberdeen, Argyle, and Inverness). They were feeding exclu¬
sively on small mountain ash trees growing amongst birch bushes.
After dinner I strolled out and saw in a rough field, on the other
side of the river, four or five black-headed gulls. Standing apart, first
one and then another kept making a sudden dash, flying quickly
along the ground, and then settling again. I crossed the river and
found a sparse growth of bracken where they had been, and I saw a
good many U. velleda flying swiftly amongst it. Almost every night
afterwards I saw some of these gulls take up their positions" as the
flight-time of velleda arrived, and depart as soon as it ended. Out of
two dozen velleda, varying much in size and colour, there were only
two of the variety i/allicns.
Nearer the river I took a series of Hydrilla arcuosa (new: Aberdeen
and Perth).
The night was wonderfully light — at this time of year there is no
real darkness in these latitudes — and on the way home, about eleven
o’clock, I was leaning over a gate, standing quite still, and watching a
C. montanata flitting up and down over the grass about three yards
away. Suddenly a gull flew' up behind, checked itself abruptly, opened
its mouth, and the moth wras gone. The bird never saw me and flew
away leisurely across the field, catching another on its way. A quarter
of an hour later there were still two gulls moth-catching, and, to judge
by their movements, they enjoyed a good meal. These black-headed
gulls appear to be most ardent and successful entomologists. Their
methods of capturing H. hamuli, which I watched at Rannoch last
year, and its ally H. velleda, were most cleverly adapted to the different
flights of the males of these two insects. For the swift and erratic
velleda they stood still, and only made a sudden flying dash as one
went past ; while for the hovering ghost moth they few steadily back¬
wards and forwards, catching them as they went. In both cases they
seemed to know exactly what time the insects were beginning their
evening flight.
Two of the next three days we spent in Tongue Woods, and took
a fine series of Fidonia piniaria, which was very abundant. Amongst
the males I looked out carefully for cream-coloured forms, but only
succeeded in catching four, all smaller, of a paler, dingier colour, and
with more black on the wings, than those from the south of England.
The females vary in ground colour from white or cream colour,
through various shades of yellowish-brown to drab: some of the last
are almost unicolorous. In one of the pale ones, the usually dark
costal and apical areas are pale yellowish-brown, giving it a faded
appearance. In the forewings, some have the basal stripe along the
nervures well marked, some the transverse bar, while in others both
are almost obsolete. In several there is a very distinct approach to
male colouration.
Above the wood we took two Coenonympha davus, which was
unexpectedly scarce, a male Chelonia plantaginis, Ay rot is porphyrea,
and Fidonia atomaria.
In the wood itself we came across E. lariciata, V. cambrica, Macaria
liturata (new: Inverness and Ross), Rumia crataeyata (a pale specimen
with red markings almost obsolete), Coremia ferrugata (the last two
new : Moray) and E. nanata.
On July 3rd, I took several very bright males of Polyommatus
alexis and two females, neither so blue as some Rannoch ones, and a
large battered female of Vanessa cardui. I also found a female Arctia
fuliginosa var. borealis with a complete black abdominal stripe, a
marking I have previously only seen in males.
During the next few days V. camhrica was at its best — I saw
thirteen on two trees on the 4th — and contrary to expectation I found
it very unwilling to fly. They are all paler than my Yorkshire ones.
The next day was bright and sunny, and we saw Xylophasia rurea
flying at saxifrage, and Apamea basilinea at raspberry blossom. Near
the village there were several colonies of Vanessa urticae larvre.
In the evening I went to some marshy ground where 1 had seen
great numbers of flower spikes of the butterfly orchis, with a few
Habenaria albida, marsh and spotted orchids, hoping they would be
visited by one of the Plusias.
Very few moths visited them, and I only took five faded Plusia
gamma, only one of which had pollinia of this orchid attached to its
eye. Plusia bractea undoubtedly visits this flower, as I have one with
a disc firmly attached to each eye, but I suppose it was too early for
this insect. Two of the gamma had pollinia of one of the other orchids
on their tongues, and I noticed some on a Hadena dentina found on a
tree trunk, and on Habrostola tripartita, Apamea basilinea, and X. rurea,
all taken at other flowers.
There were great numbers of Noctuse at honeydew, chiefly rurea
and basilinea, with a good many C. pectinataria. I also caught one
Noctua plecta. On the way home I took a Boarmia repandata and
Cidaria truncata, and saw three II. humuli.
On Friday I found a beautiful white specimen of Aeronycta leporina,
immaculate but for the black discoidal spot, high up on a rowan, and
in the evening took a C. munitata. Examining my captures in the
house I found I had taken a remarkable aberration of C. pectinataria.
In this, the wing area along the costa from base to apex is normal,
though faded to the usual pinkish colour. The rest of the wing looks
silvery-grey with pale grey marks representing the usual black areas.
Microscopically it is perfectly fresh, but the scales are unpigmented
and thinly scattered, so that the membrane shows between. The
grey marks are due to black scales, natural in character and position,
but much reduced in number. Amongst others of this species is one
with unusually black markings.
In the hotel garden H. tripartita was abundant every evening,
visiting all the flowers, but on a cold night appeared twenty
minutes later than on the warmer ones. I also took seven
pidchrina at pink campion on different evenings. It is curious
that neither of these species visited the orchids only 200 yards
away. Amongst other insects obtained at dusk on July 7th, 8th,
and 9th, were" H. dentina, C. fluctuata (dark forms), one Cidaria
prunata ('? new), one Caradrina cubicularis, Apamea yemina, Emmclesia
alchemillata (new : Moray and Hebrides), Kupithecia pulchellata, E.
asrimilata (new: Perth and Ross), E. fraxinata (new: S. Scotland
only, Edinburgh, Clydesdale and Solway), E. subfulvata var. coynata
(new), and a worn specimen of what may be E. constrictata. (new).
Fraxinata was only taken at the end of my visit, and I had no oppor¬
tunity to follow up the capture, but there are big ash trees not far
away.
July 8th was showery and windy, and I noted that cambrica was
shyer and inclined to fly off the trees. On the 8th, I took L abera
exanthemaria (new: Ross), one with first and central lines coalescing,
and Eupithecia castiyata (new: Moray) near the Kinloch river. On
the 9th I took Ellopia fasciaria in Tongue Wood, and another later in .
An-garbh-chnoc (new: Moray).
One night, seeing a good many Pieris brassicae at rest, I took
notes at the time, and give them practically verbatim. All were
sitting fully exposed, one on a white flower of tradescantia, a large
plant with only five flowers ; one on the flower of a crucifer, a plant
with few leaves but many loosely arranged masses of white flowers ;
two on upper side of leaves of other plants of the same species near
flower heads j one three-cjuarters of the way up the stem of an oxeje
daisy, a big plant, covered with flowers and buds of different heights ;
one "on a leaf of lily plant, which has no flowers. Next night,
July 8th, I saw four more all near white flowers. There were many
other flowering plants, and those they were on were not near one
another. Amongst others were tiger lily, forget-me-not, yellow
daisies, larkspurs, blue polemoniums, and pink campion, all of which
were examined without result.
38
If these butterflies do choose a resting place to match their own
colour, definite evidence of it is most likely to be obtained in these
latitudes, where the much longer period of light, while the insect is
still at rest, makes their selection of a suitable sleeping-place so much
more important.
With regard to the other “ whites,” P. napi was to be seen in the
grassy hollows near the river. This is a new record : South in his
recent book states that it has not been recorded from further north
than Ross and Moray. P. rapae was abundant later in the village,
evidently just emerging.
During the remainder of the time we took Larentia caesiata
commonly, even at sea-level, on the tree trunks and rocks, and two
Acidalia fumata (new: W. Ross). We also took a few B. repandata ,
rather darker and more uniformly grey than Rannoch ones, on rocks in
the woods, and with them three Dasydia obfnscata (new : Ross). On
the moors larvae of Lasiocanipa qnercus and Saturnia carpini were
noticed. On the last day of our visit, numbers of Argynnis aglaia
suddenly appeared.
We devoted a good deal of time to looking for Camptogramma
bilineata in the -woods near the Kyle, and most of those taken were
found on the rocks, often under a ledge. A total of 98 males and
18 females were examined ; of the males 22 were quite normal,
55 showed five dark spots on the forewings to a fairly marked
degree, of the remainder, some showed general darkening of the ground
colour or unusally distinct strife. In some of the spotted examples
the spots are very conspicuous, and in one they meet across the central
band. Of the 18 females, only three were without black spots or
darkened strife, and one has the striae much blackened, and a strong
black band running along the inner side of the second line, which
gives it a very striking appearance. Another point brought out by my
specimens is a certain degree of sexual dimorphism. In every female
the ground colour of the fore-wings is of a soft brown, contrasting -with
the orange colour of the hindwings. In the males, the upper wings
are yellow, and even in the darker specimens, the colour is always
different from the brown of the females. In Aberdeenshire I have
taken similar brown forms -with the commoner yellow ones. In
England, this species usually sits amongst the leaves of bushes,
whereas here they were frequently exposed on the face of the rocks,
and nearly always on the rocks, even though they were often under a
ledge. This difference of habit may account for the darker, and less con¬
spicuous colour of the Sutherland form and especially for the browner
females.
As a whole the species which showr a tendency to melanism are not
numerous, and some are actually paler than more southern races.
To sum up, we took a total of 85 species, nearly all in the imago
stage, 28 are probably new to the county list, and 3 doubtful. Of
these 31, two are noctuae and 25 geometridae.
List. — Pieris brassicae, P. rapae, P. napi, Polyomwatus a lexis,
1 . icrticae (larvae), 1'. cardiii, Argynnis aglaia, Coentmymplia darns,
Poecilocampa populi (larvae), Trichiura crataegi (larvae), Lasiocanipa
querciis (larvae), Saturnia carpini (larvae), Platypterycc lacertinaria *
Hepialus velleda, H. huinuli, Nenieophila plantaginis, Phraginatobia
fuliginosa, Demas corxyli, Cymatophora duplaris, Acronycta leporina ,
39
Ayrotis porphyrea, Noctua plecta, N. c-nigrum, Hadena pisi, II. dentina,
Cleocerisviminalis (larva), Xylophasia rurea, Apcunea gemina, A. basilinea,
Taeniocampa gothica (larva), T. instabilis (larva), Hydrilla arcuosa*
Caradrina cubicularis, Plusia pulchrina, P. gamma, Habrostola tripartita,
Phytometra aenea.* Raima crataegata ,* Cabera pusaria,* C. exanthe-
maria ,* Macaria liturata ,* Fidonia atom aria, F. piniaria, Ellopia
fasciaria Dasydia obfuscata ,* Boarmia repandata, Hybernia progem-
maria,* H. defoliaria* Ephyra pendularia ,* Acidalia fnmata ,* Melanippe
tristata, M.subtristata,Melanthiaocellata, Coremia fiuctuata, C. montanata,
C. didymata, C. pectinataria, C. munitata, C. propugnata, C. ferrugata ,*
Larentia caesiata, Venusia cambrica ,* Emmelesia albulata, E. alche-
millata* E. blandiata, Cidaria corylata ,* G\ truncata, C. prunata (/ *),
C. sulfumata,* C. testata (larva), Camptogramma bilineata, Thera variata,
Hypaipetes impluviata, Cheimatobia boreata* C. brumata, Eupithecia
nanata, E. lariciata {? *), A’, castigata ,* A. subfulvata var. cognata ,* E.
pulchellata, F. pumilata, E. assimilata ,* A. s at grata, A. fraxinata* A.
/ constrictata ,* Tanagra chaerophyllata .*
* New.
NOTES ON THE “WAINSCOTS.”
(Bead February 19th, 1907, by H. M. EDELSTEN.)
The subject of our exhibition and discussion this evening, “ The
Wainscots,” is a family which has always appealed to me very
strongly. I am afraid I cannot tell you very much about this subject,
as each year I find I know less and less about them, and my attention
has been chiefly devoted to one or two species. Perhaps of all the
genera of British lepidoptera the family Leucania contains more rare
and casual visitors than any other, as the blanks in our cabinet-
drawers show. Taking the “ Wainscots ” as a whole, they may be divided
up as follows : — The more or less dry-land species, comprising,
pallens, itnpura, comma, turca, lithargyria and conigera. The water-
loving species : — obsoleta, straminea pudorina, brevilinea, M. flammea,
S. maritima, C. phragmitidis and lutosa, and the Nonagrias — typhae,
cannae, xparganii, dissoluta, geminipuncta, and T. fulva, concolor and
helmanni ; the coast species comprising elyrni, littoralis, favicolor,
putrescens, T. bondii, and our rare visitors S. musculosa, L. extranea,
loryi, l-album, vitellina and albipuncta. I include the two latter
among the visitors, as 1 feel sure they are not true British species; but
there is an importation every few years which just keeps them going,
and anyone who has worked the coast, will, I think, agree with me,
that a cycle of warm summers generally produces some of our
rarities.
Now, as regards the life-history of the “ Wainscots ” : —
40
The egg-laying is practically the same all through. The ovipositor
is pointed and flat so that it can be thrust within the sheathing
leaves of reed and grass stems and grass blooms. The eggs them¬
selves in their natural position are generally flattened spheres, those
of the nunagrias being more flattened than those of the Leucanids.
The eggs of the internal feeders and those external feeders which
require the growing stems to feed in and on, do not hatch till the
spring, and are covered with a glutinous substance which protects
them from the water, as they are often submerged during the winter ;
those of the rest hatch in the summer, and the larvfe mostly hibernate
small, though some are full-fed before the winter but do not pupate
till the spring. The only species I know which pupates in the
autumn is M. fiammea.
I do not propose to deal with all the larvae separatel}', the
larval habits of most of the “ Wainscots ” are well-known to yon
all, I expect. Perhaps a few notes on one or two may be
interesting. Obsolela and straminea larvae always strike me as being
different from the rest of the Leucanids, though this may only be from
force of circumstances. Their long flattened bodies are so different
from the usual cylindrical Leucania larvae ; but when one comes to
think the matter out, it is necessary they should be so, as they hide
within dead reed stems in the day time, as they are inhabitants of the
old reed beds growing in the wetter portions of the fens; and they
have nowhere else to go, or the birds would soon find them out. *
Brevilinea has a most curious larval existence ; when small, it is an
internal feeder ; as it grows larger, it comes out to feed on the leaves ;
when it has finished its supper, it bites a hole in the reed-stem, just
below the terminal leaf, and enters the stem to hide during the day ;
the reeds grow so fast at this season, that by the next morning the
sheathing leaf has grown over the hole and the larva is quite hidden,
hence it is very rarely ichneumoned. In its last stages it is purely
an external feeder, and it pupates on the surface of the fen. Cannae,
again, is another curious example ; it starts feeding in scirpus, and
sometimes iris and sparganium, as also sparganii does ; then, as it
grows, it enters typlia stems, both latifolia and angustifolia, and
pupates in the interior of the stem, head upwards, as against typhae,
which always pupates head downwards. I have sometimes found
pupae of cannae in stems of scirpus, sparganium , flower stems of Iris
pseudacorus, and once in the hollow stem of Cicuta virosa, though this
only occurs, I think, when the stem in which they fed was unsuitable
for pupation. The moor-hens are great enemies of cannae and
sparganii, as the pupae are always below the emergence hole, and they
peck downwards and eat them ; but typhae escapes, as it is above the
hole. The larvae of many of our rare species, when we get a hot
autumn as we had last year, feed up rapidly, and spin a puparium,
and, I think, are thus enabled to stand our climate, whereas they would
be killed as small larvae.
The pupae of the Nonagrias are interesting in possessing a
pointed headpiece or beak, with which they break through °the
outer cuticle of the stem to enable the moth to hatch.
Now, to go on to another subject, Senta maritima, in which genus
should this species be placed ? I believe it is a macro, though the larva
is very like a tortrix, and does not resemble any of the wainscots in
41
any shape ov form. Then, as you probably know, it is of a most
degraded type, for in captivity it is not particular what it eats, decaying
vegetable matter, raw beef, tomato, geranium flowers, its own brethren,
spiders, aphides, etc. It chooses as its home the empty reed stems,
always finding one that exactly fits it. What is its natural food? I
have found them crawling about at night in the old reed beds drinking
the dew, and I think its real food must be the confervid growths at
the base of the reed stems.
The general colour of the “Wainscots’' is rather striking, but it is
no doubt due to protective coloration ; their habitat is among the reeds
and sedges, and the way they choose their resting-places during the
day is truly wonderful. I once or twice have found viaritnna in the
day time sitting under an old reed stem with its wings wrapped round
it, and I had to look several times before I was quite certain about it.
Then again, why do Wainscots produce black forms, especial 1} the
Nonag rias ? It cannot be for protection, because they would be so
conspicuous on a green or brown stem. I believe Dr. Chapman said
he thought it was a reversion to the original type. There is no doubt
the reed -colour of the “ Wainscots ” is assumed to harmonise with its
surroundings, and it is an unnatural colour amongst the 'Soctuae : I
think it is a point of the deepest interest, as it is such a consistent habit.
As regards the difficulty of collecting a good series of Wainscots,
it is no easy matter, as each species has practically a different habitat,
and one must go for each species separately. Light is a most attrac¬
tive medium, and sugar sometimes, but one must study each species ,
for instance, it is no good going to try and catch brevilinea or jianrmea
in thick reed beds, or ulvae and dissolute i on the open fen, though
they may all be within a hundred yards of one another. Some of the
species are exceedingly local, and I cannot account for this, as many
of them are strong fliers, and the food-plants occur all o\ei the country.
Cannae, for instance, is confined to one little corner of the Broads, but
never seems to spread, and geminipuncta occurs all through the
country, but not in the broads. Then again, many species occur one
year and not again for several seasons. Why? Chiefly, I think,
owing to the regular cutting of the reeds and rushes, which, being
done in the winter, destroys the eggs, but as the demand foi thatch or
chaff does not increase now, I hope all the indiscriminate cutting am
burning will cease, and allow the “Wainscots to re-establish them¬
selves, and enable us to find out something more about this delightful
family.
42
SOME NOTES ON A. BELLARGUS, WITH REFERENCES TO
ALLIED SPECIES.
(Read March 19th, 1907, by Dr. G. G. C. HODGSON.)
ith a view to filling up the gap in the absence of advertised
paper, these few notes are hurriedly put together — in re mainly A.
bellargus, and the closely approximating ? of A. corydon and P. argus
(i aegon ), and in less degree the species most closely allied to these as
occurring in England.
Beginning with Adonis (with which solely these notes first set out
to deal), the dates in general for this species occur to me, and in this
connection, in passing, one cannot refrain from commenting on a
phase which must have puzzled us all, viz., the dates one finds given
by authorities for various events extraordinarily at variance with
experience of present time, e.g., the blooming of plants : — Bee orchis
gi\en as flowering in “May” (not exclusively one is only left to
infer); Bellargus, time of appearance “May and August,” Newman,
though the first specimens do not invariably emerge till June and
September, and if in May quite one of the latter days is the first date.
And only by quite artificial means have I ever been able to obtain Bee
orchis blossom in May.
Only in three years have I noticed Bellargus in May. In two
consecutive years, 1905 and 1906, Bellargus S s seen in May, on 27th
and 29th respectively, giving five days and three days of flight for this
species.
In one other year (earliest record noted — in diary without year date)
May 24th is only other record made earlier than June.
These remarks would be only less emphatic as regards second-brood
that it is mainly a September phenomenon in most years. To what is
due this discrepancy in statements of competent observers might he a
ruitful source of discussion. It is noteworthy that in connection with
these we cannot be indebted for unusual records to the artifice of
other human beings, with their cuckoo clocks and other devices.
These remarks by no means touch the limits where perhaps lie
such records as (? at Selbome) of M. cinxia in August. (White
Natural History of Selbome .)
A piopos of A. bellargus the following dates collected are perhaps
ot interest: Two years, 1877 and 1879, gives us dates November
oth and November 6th; 1889 gives end of October, possibly also
November (for these I am indebted to Mr. Sidney Webb) ; one" year
1903, Surrey North Downs daily in October till 10th.
In connection with this falls the consideration of the extent of
e duiation of imaginal state in both broods. I believe it used to be
considered that as a rule five weeks would fairly cover the combined
periods of both broods in imaginal condition.
Thus in 1888, collecting at Bevingdean (Sussex), first (tf)
bellargus was seen on September 13th, and the first day on which none
43
were seen was 25th of same month. Not one was seen subsequently
in this year. Between these dates it was fairly abundant, and this
was a year for a species to linger rather than be hurried in its courses.
From two to three weeks usually averaged each brood’s days. And
only by collecting in a series of localities (seven) could one calculate
on working bellargus in second brood for five weeks round Brighton.
In the earliest locality it would be over (or more than over) before its
appearance in the last. This refers to years prior to 1899, and to
S. Downs. But in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, a new experience has been
one’s lot.
The dates for these four consecutive years (to which 1907 is added
since reading of paper) are —
First-Brood. Second-Brood.
*1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
36 days
29 ,,
63 „
40 „
49 „
47 days
37
47
47
51
? >
> 1
5 »
> »
The days on which bellargus was on the wing in these years
covered over 22 per cent., 18 per cent., 30 per cent., 24 per cent.,
27 per cent, of these years respectively.
Leaving the periods of emergence, etc., and diverging to variation
in special years — and taking in corydon as well — the observation of
1887 and 1888, when I visited regularly two localities, I was firmly
convinced that these two years showed as regards themselves as
follows : —
1887: very hot, sunny, dry summer; exaggeration of sexual
dimorphism, $ s brilliant, ? s no blue.
1888 : Late, wet, mostly wretched summer ; most of 5 s with
blue taken this summer, and all the darkest $ s taken previously to
1904 were of this year’s capture. The comparison of long series of
these two years especially of corydon , taken in an endeavour to get all
possible variation, was most striking in the manner above indicated.
Possibly a further remark or two on other variation in imago of
corydon will not be quite useless, especially considering that, as
regards the differentiation of 5 of bellargus from corydon, there is, I
believe, no written description which precludes the possibility of error
in identification, however easily familiarity may enable one to readily
distinguish every individual.
In my former collection I had a corydon taken in last week of July,
1888. This verbally (so to say) was indistinguishable from bellargus as
to colour, shape, fringes, markings of upper- and under sides, with all
the admirable neatness and cleanly marked detail of the latter, except
for one character not, to my knowledge, anywhere described as a
mark of identification, a propos of which character a series is shown.
Not that it never fails, does one suggest ; but so often markedly
present in corydon, it is, I think, final when well-marked.
On the margins of the wings, on the undersides, where the dark
line cuts off the fringes from the wing, and where the nervures end
In this table one and the same single locality all through.
44
on this line, there is an increase of the thickness of this line and
each nervure at the junction in all the following Lycaenids : — art) us
( aeyon ) astrarc/ie, Icarus, bellargus, cirion.
In coij/don usually- — this results in the wing rays terminating
in a longish triangle with the apex well up on the wing rays, a triangle
of the same colour as the ground colour of the wing, therefore, in the
female, brown of some tint. Present in all wings, usually much less
marked in the $ than in the 2 , tending also less in $ to any ex-
aggeiation, and, if unequally marked (except very rarely) on hindwings
more marked than on forewings ; in corydon on the average this
presents a great contrast to bellaryus.
In bellaryus, the sexual difference is merely less marked; but
otherwise similar statement to that in re corydon holds good in much
less degree. Usually the increase from the little junction triangle is
■very slight, and of colour of marginal line. Occasionally in
bellaryus there is marked running of ground colour down wing rays
between the “peacock spots.”
As regards the other four species mentioned, except merely givin"
statistics in table shown, I let them entirely stand over.
In comparing corydon and bellaryus (by means of very limited
statistics) — (in 2 ) —
The forewing being used for comparison : —
fhe triangular marking on the disc of this wing being noted and
distinguished from mere circumferential thickening at the ed"e ■ _
We get
In corydon, As well marked in ... ... ... no
In bellaryus, „ „ ... ... . . q
In corydon, As rather more than slight . lo
In bellaryus, ■„ „ „ . 15
In corydon, As slight or very slight . 0
In bellaryus, „ „ „ ... ." 131
opecimen of corydon compared ... ... ... 125 in toto
and specimens of bellaryus compared ... ... 146 in toto
In corydon, the chief range of differences occurs in those classed
as well marked, 110 out of 125.
In bellaryus, the chief range of differences similarly is in the 131,
not paralleled by corydon ; but much less difference of degree occurs
here than in the well marked corydon, which proportionately should
be differentiated into many classes.
Compared with the difficulty of a verbal description discriminating
these species, in the female sex, and habitual (? invariable) easy coin
fidence of the correct expert, and unanimous agreement if required of
experts, and compared with the facile and early acquisition of this skill
as regards these two insects whose resemblance (much exploited in a
comparatively popular sense) is such a difficulty to the beginner, a
ridiculous contrast is afforded by the little mentioned resemblance of
2 s of icarus and bellaryus in the case of really puzzling specimens ;
and here with these species — this test of the “ nervure-triangles ” (if
I may so designate them), strangely enough, may I think be expected
to fail.
At this point one is reminded of one’s intention to claim for
45
bellargus the position of one of the most variable, probably the most
variable, of our “blues,” the $ so much more variable than icarus, the
? s so much more than corydon.
One asserts this, prompted by a feeling that it is not too prevalent
an opinion, and mentions it in passing to a few details yet to be
mentioned with regard to bellargus, as to variation, etc., first as regards
habits, which should be kept’ to the front, as otherwise I confess
perhaps too liable to be relegated to a back ground.
In contrast with what one has usually considered characteristic of
the species, one notes that as often as not (probably), the only
specimen of bellargus seen on the first day of its season (first or second
brood indiscriminately) has been a 2 — on one occasion (I olkestone)
— tAvo days before a $ has been seen.
And again, as regards a second example of a solitary 2 1905, on
Surrey Hills, more than a mile from any hippocrepis or from any
bellargus specimen otherwise, a typical 2 bellargus was taken (and
released) in September. .
Then as regards markings : during the last four years m Ivent, m
Sussex, in Surrey, during constant collection of bellargus in both
broods, Ave haA7e observed in all broods a tendency in ab. striatus, to
blue band in 2 s on secondaries, and a definite tendency to obsoleti ;
Avhile in Sussex and Surrey, previous to 1898, nothing of this kind
ever fell to ones lot. (From 1898 to 1904, being abroad, no English
collecting Avas done.) . ...
And— still as regards 2 s— in 1903 was especially noticeable m
Surrey the tendency to alteration of colours during the progress of
the autumn. Towards the end of the brood the later 2 s were more
often plain, and dull, brown, drab-black, AAritk reduced orange
crescents (particularly hindwings), reduced striation of fringes, and
increase of tendency of gray apices to forewings. This probably is
habitual Avith prolonged, late autumn broods, or those where termina¬
tion has been affected by cold, some approaching closely the only two 2 s
affected (as was known to be the case) by frost which I have seen.
These would be parallel to the grayish-coloured S s, also approaching
those taken after frost. . .
In the variations of the $ , the blue of particular mdiwcluals
seems much more variable than in corydon. The blue band Avithin
the margin of hindwings seems peculiar to bellargus among 2 s of
u Blues.”
Turning to the variation of $ , it often seems as if the frequency
and kind of variation of the less aberrant individuals is liable to be
under-estimated. • ,, , , ,r o i.- >
Of course the deep iron-gray, as well knoAvn in the late Mr. Sabine s
collection, the pale silvery steel, the absolutely altered by bleaching
AA'ith pinkv tinges, and the extreme of commoner shades, as green and
violet, are too well-known to be mentioned, except as not immediately
under consideration.
But the remaining numbers, including an enormous percentage
after excluding the aboA7e, still include many exceptions, such as the
very pale, the pure blue of a deeper colour than any average specimen,
the^ grayish and A7ery deep-coloured individuals, anti still yet some
exceptionally brilliant, before the rest can be put down as a fairly
homogeneous residue, even yet slightly green or slightly violet. Some
46
of these exceptions seem to be somewhat, at least, local in Kent or
Sussex as at all common, viz., the pale blue, very pale, and very dark
blue.
And still left to be mentioned are the variations of borders of
primaries, the white edge within the fringe, the black spots to hind-
wings, with and without white edges, and the rare, though slight,
markings similarly to uppenvings. These and the amount of black
on nervures, on margin, in fringes, transversely, longitudinally, and the
dusky to grey and almost black fringes. The latter matters, relating it
to hylas, are all deserving, and needing, too, still a great amount
of work.
And, finally, on the undersides probably no other English “Blue”
is more variable on underside, or more interesting as to amount of
sexual variation, and resemblance by variation in colour, than
bellaryus.
Finally, to bring to a close these disjointed and rambling remarks,
an apology is needed for their superficiality, which would have been
somewhat mended but for their hurried concoction, owing to this
being no specially prepared, no foreseen paper, which facts, I hope, will
partially justify the offering of remarks, based, as you will understand,
on such ignorance as leads one to consider such blues as corydon and
aeyon to be allied much more closely than most of our “ blues.”
This arises, of course, from aforesaid superficiality, which judges
from the imagines with undersides showing (1) sometimes or often
“blue studs” in marginal spots of secondaries; (2) tendency to
white nervures on discs; (3) tendency for the groundcolour to run
down nervures broadly to margin, spreading there in a triangle— and
with uppersides in 3 with variation from a plain marginal line to
wings, through a row of spots of varying sizes with and without
varying amount of white to a broad homogeneous black band— the
wing rays varying from blue ground colour through varying amount
of black pigment to marked black wedges on upper wings ; "the black
discoidal spot so often present in both, even on hindwings*.
It must be allowed, however, that these points of resemblance are
fairly closely confined to these species. Nevertheless, parallel argu¬
ments probably exaggerate also the nearness of icarus and bellarijus
in relationship, through the close parallelism of the 3 s (colour only,
and not too unreservedly excepted), and, indeed, also, only less so of
$ s, and including the underside marking, where the “ nervure-
triangle ” seldom is well marked, and increased chiefly (though, even
here, rarely) in 3 s by ground colour spreading between “ peacock-
spots.”
Based entirely on points like these, one fully recognises the
superficiality of the argument; but this feeling "is, nevertheless,
strong enough, in contrast with any appreciation of a close relation¬
ship between cot yd.oti and adonts, to lead to one's arrangements
placing argus and corydon alongside, and adonis and icarus alongside,
even though this should necessitate separating corydon and adonis
from juxta-position.
To these notes (and accidentally omitted from them when read)
* [Also, as well-known now, both hybernate in ova ; a much less “superficial”
resemblance, perhaps. October 2nd, 1907.]
47
may be added to variations common to corydon and acyon, and not to
icarus and bellary us, an occasional aberration in aegnn and corydon,
showing a few black spots additional to the discoidal spot on upper
wings, and, perhaps, in both on hindwings, in much same position as
in avion. This is quite distinct, probably from the variation in
scaling allowing some reproduction of markings of undersides on
uppersides, probably most commonly in icarus.
A. Bellargus on Wing.
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
First-brood, June 2 to July 8 . . . . 36 days 1
Second-brood, August 24 to October 9 . . . . 47 days f
(With interval 47 days) Total, Ilf weeks.
First-brood, June 6 to July 4. . .. .. 29 days )
Second-brood, August 20 to September 25 37 days J
(With interval 46 days) Total 9f weeks.
First-brood, May 27 to July 29 .. .. 64 days |
Second-brood, August 12 to September 27 . . 47 days )
(With interval 14 days) Total 15f weeks.
First-brood, May 29 to July 7 .. .. 40 days )
Second-brood, August 8 to September 13 48 days j
(With interval 31 days) Total 12f weeks.
First-brood, May 26 to July 23 .. .. 59 days )
Second-brood, August 24 to October 13 . . 51 days j
added after. (With interval 31 days) Total 15f weeks.
22% of year.
18%.
30%.
24%.
30%.
Nervure-Triangle op $ in Six Species of Blues.
None
Slight
Very Small
Marked
Good
Excessive
Argus
(125)
1
15
51
45
13
—
Corydon
(125)
. . — •
—
4
11
39
71
Bellargus
(146)
.. 52
79
12
3
—
—
Icarus
(155)
.. 64
51
35
5
—
—
Astrarche
( 84)
.. 30
33
20
1
—
—
A rion
( 13)
.. 12
1
—
—
—
—
d s as well as ? s.
48
DESIDERATA FOR THE SOCIETY’S CABINET.
LEPIDOPTERA.
1. In Micron. — Many species are not represented by a single specimen, and in
only a few species is the series complete.
2. In Macros. — In the case of nearly all rarities only a type or no example. Of
less rare species many species will bear improvement.
Rhopalocera. — All good specimens, with data, acceptable. New series specially
required of L. avion, II. actaeon, and H. sylvanus.
Heterocera. — (South list, 1884.) *
C. Porcellus
T. Apiformis
T. Crabroniformis
S. Scoliiformis
S. Sphegiformis
S. Asiliformis
S. Myopiformis
S. Formiciformis
S. Ichneumoniformis
S. Chrysidiformis
N. Strigula
N. Albulalis
N. Centonalis
N. Senex
N. Mundana
L. Muscerda
L. Lutarella
L. Deplana
E. Cribrum
H. Asella
D. Fascelina
T. Cratoegi
P. Populi
E. Lanestris
B. Quercus
D. Furcula
D. Bifida
N. Trepida
N. Trimacula
C. Duplaris
C. Fluctuosa
A. Ridens
A. Tridens
A. Leporina
A. Aceris
A. Strigosa
A. Ligustri
A. Auricoma
A. Menyanthidis
L. Obsoleta
L. Favieolor
M. Flammea
S. Maritima
T. Extrema
N. Neurica
N. Arundinis
C. Lutosa
H. Micacea
L. Exigua
N. Reticulata
P. Leucophea
M. Albicolon
M. Furva
A. Connexa
A. Ophiogramma
C. Haworth ii
C. Ambigua
A. Corticea
A. Cinerea
A. Rip®
A. Aquilina
A. Obelisca
A. Prcecox
A. Obscura
A. Ashworthii
N. Depuncta
N. Ditrapezium
M. Dahlii
N. Sobrina
N. Castanea
T. Orbona
A. Pyramidea
P. Leucographa
P. Hyperborea
T. Populeti
T. Pulverulenta
O. Suspeeta
O. Croeeago
X. Fulvago
T. Retusa
C. Pyralina
D. Irregularis
D. Templi
E. Liclienea
A. Nigra
H. Adusta
PI. Glauca
H. Dissimilis
H. Contigua
H. Rectilinea
X. Areola
X. Socia
C. Verbasei
C. Lychnitis
C. Asteris
C. Absinthii
C. CliamomillfE
H. Triplasia
P. Interrogationis
A. Melanopa
A. Cordigera
H. Peltigera
E. Fasciana
T. Craec®
B. Notha
B. Cinetaria
D. Obfuscaria
G. Papilionaria
P. Pustulata
T. Lactearia
Z. Porata
Z. Annulata
Z. Orbicularia
A. Luteata
A. Candidata
A. Sylvata
E. Obliterata
N. Cambrica
A. Ochrata
A. Bisetata
A. Contiguaria
A. Dilutaria
A. Holosericata
A. Circellata
A. Marginepunctata
A. Straminata
A. Immutata
A. F'umata
A. Strigilaria
A. Degeneraria
C. Rotundaria
M. Alternata
M. Liturata
F. Carbonaria
O. Filigrammaria
E. Aflinitata
E. Alchemillata
E. Taeniata
E. Minorata
E. Consignata
E. Pulchellata
E. Pygmreata
E. Subfulvata
E. Plumbeolata
E. Scabiosata
E. Helveticaria
H. Satyrata
E. Castigata
E. Pusillata
E. Irriguata
49
E. Constrictata
E. Albipuncfcata
E. ExpalLidata
E. Absinthiata
E. Minutata
E. Lariciata
E. Dodoneata
E. Exiguata
E. Sobrinata
E. Togata
E. Coronata
E. Debiliata
C. Sparsata
L. Sexalisata
L. Halterata
L. Viretata
i L. Carpinata
L. Polycommata
T. Simulata
T. Firmata
H. Ruberata
H. Trifaseiata
H. Sordidata
M. Oeellata
M. Albicillata
M. Galiata
A. Nigrofasciaria
A. Berberata
C. Fluviata
P. Lapidata
P. Vittata
S. Vetulata
C. Miata
C. Sagittata
C. Silaceata
C. Prunata
C. Dotata
C. Paludata
L. Griseata
GERALD HODGSON.
A. J. WILLSDON.
Hon. Curators.
PRESENTED
30 JUL 1908
«
Citg of I'ouDon Entomological # Bataral
istorn
THIS SOCIETY has for its object the diffusion of the science
of Natural History, by means of papers, discussions,
exhibitions, and the formation of collections for reference.
Since its commencement in 1858, a valuable and useful Library
has been formed, which comprises, amongst other works, sets of the
“Zoologist” (1843 — 1897), “Entomologist” (Vols. 1 — 40), “Ento¬
mologist’s Monthly Magazine” (Vols. 1 — 42), and the “Ento¬
mologist’s Record and Journal of Variation” (Vols. 1—18). There
is also a collection of British Lepidoptera, and collections of other
orders are now in course of formation.
The meetings take place on the first and third Tuesdays in
each month, except July and August, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m., at
the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, E.C., which is easily
accessible from all parts. Exhibits are made at every meeting,
and papers read on various Natural History Subjects, a special
feature being the systematic discussion and exhibition of interesting
groups of insects, etc.
The Entrance Fee is Two Shillings and Sixpence, and the
Annual Subscription Seven Shillings and Sixpence, payable in
advance, being fixed at as moderate a sum as is possible, consistent
with the proper maintenance of the Society and its work, in order
that all may avail themselves of the benefits offered. The Society
therefore looks with confidence for the support of all who are
interested in the study of Natural History.
The year commences on the first Tuesday in December, but
intending members may join at any time, the ballot being taken at
the next ordinary meeting after that on which they are proposed.
Further information may be obtained from the corresponding
Secretary.
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