The following aberrations have been named—ab. marginata, Mathew, with the fringes of all the wings conspicuously pinky-grey; ab. olivacea, Mathew, a form of the female with olive brown fore wings; ab. obsoleta, Mathew, a form of the male with the dark central band nearly or quite absent.
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| 2 Pl. 102. |
| 1, 2. | Dentated Pug. | 3, 4. | Dark Spinach. | 5. | Many-lined. |
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| 6. | Slender-striped Rufous. | 7. | Small Waved Umber. | 8. | The Fern. |
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| 9, 10. | Oblique Carpet. | 11, 12. | The Gem. |
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| 2 Pl. 103. |
| 1-5. | Magpie Moth. | 6-8. | Clouded Magpie. |
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The caterpillar is greyish, sometimes tinged with pink, and sometimes with green; three dusky lines on the head and first three rings of the body, a series of blackish outlined, whitish marks on the middle rings, and blackish marks on the other rings, which are pale in colour; a blackish line above the black-edged spiracles is broken up into dashes on the middle rings. Several other forms of the caterpillar, which is a variable one, have been described by Hellins. The food comprises groundsel, knotgrass, chrysanthemum, and various other plants. There are several generations during the year, and in hot weather the caterpillars feed up rapidly, so quickly indeed that in about a month the whole round of changes from egg to moth is effected. The species is migratory in habit, and there is little doubt that the specimens taken in this country in late spring or early summer are immigrants; those examples obtained later in the year are probably the descendants of such aliens. It is more frequently noted from southern England, chiefly from the seaboard counties, but it has been recorded from Lancashire and Yorkshire; also from Wales, and from several parts of Ireland: April to November.
BOARMIINÆ.
Clouded Magpie (Abraxas sylvata).
A more or less typical example of each sex of this variable species will be found on Plate [103]. Fig. 7 represents a male, and Fig. 8 a female; the slightly marked specimen (Fig. 6) somewhat approaches the continental species A. pantaria, L., in appearance, and it is probable that such individuals have done duty for the species just named in some of the older collections of British lepidoptera. On Plate [104] are shown the leaden tinted form (Fig. 6), sometimes not infrequent in certain Yorkshire localities; a specimen with smoky fore wings (Fig. 7), taken with a few other examples of the same form in a wood in Buckinghamshire, in 1907, when also the strongly banded form (Fig. 8) was secured by Mr. A. J. Scollick. Between these