Pl. 77. BUFF ERMINE MOTH _and varieties_.
{ 151} The moth, which emerges in June, is rarely seen away from its favourite haunts, which are marshes and fens; its English name is therefore a very appropriate one. It is not often observed in the daytime, but is on the wing early in the evening, and later on is pretty sure to be attracted to any strong light that may be set up in its neighbourhood. The best localities for the species seem to be the fens of Norfolk and Cambridge, but it used to be fairly plentiful in many suitable parts of East Kent, and no doubt still occurs in some of the marshes between Dartford and Gravesend: it is found in Sussex in the Lewes and Brighton districts, and has been recorded from Kimmeridge in Dorsetshire, from the Isle of Wight, from near Burton-on-Trent, from the Lancaster district, and from Pembrokeshire, South Wales. In Scotland it is rare, and, with the exception of one example reported as taken in an illuminated moth trap at Clonbrock, May, 1896, not known to occur in Ireland.
The distribution abroad extends over Central and Northern Europe, through South Russia to Amurland.
THE BUFF ERMINE (_Spilosoma lubricipeda_).
This species is now known by the English name of the Buff Ermine, but the names bestowed upon it by some ancient writers were perhaps hardly more suitable. Thus Wilkes in 1773 called it the "Spotted Buff Moth," and Harris five years later dubbed it the "Cream-dot Stripe." The ground colour is generally some shade of buff, in the paler specimens merging into cream, and in the darker to yellowish ochre. In the matter of black marking the range of variation is extensive. The specimens figured on Plate 77 illustrate something of this variation, both as regards colouring and marking. The females are, as a rule, paler than the males, but occasionally examples { 152} of the latter sex are quite as pale as any female. Figures 7 and 8 represent var. _zatima_, Cramer. Originally this form was only known to occur in Heligoland. The same form, or a modification of it, was described by Haworth as _radiata_, from a Yorkshire specimen. Then, in 1837, specimens of the variety were reared with the normal form of the species from caterpillars obtained at Saltfleet in Lincolnshire; and subsequently a few more examples were reported from the last named county, and elsewhere. In 1891 a specimen of var. _zatima_ emerged from an assortment of chrysalids sent to Mr. Harrison of Barnsley from a London correspondent. This particular specimen was of the female sex, and it paired with a male which was also an aberration, but not of the _zatima_ form. Some of the offspring resulting from this union were of the female parent form, others favoured the male parent, and others again were intermediate. In the course of a few generations almost entire broods of the _zatima_ variety were obtained. Allowing the sexes of _zatima_ to mate with those of more or less ordinary _lubricipeda_, the late Mr. W. H. Tugwell obtained many very interesting aberrations, one of which he named var. _eboraci_, and another _fasciata_. The _zatima_ form and its various modifications have now been reared by entomologists all over the country, and presumably directly or indirectly from the original Barnsley stock. In Yorkshire especially the race has been improved; the specimens are larger and darker, and there is a tendency towards the almost entirely black form known as var. _deschangei_.