BARRETT'S MARBLED CORONET (_Dianthoecia luteago_, var. _barrettii_).
The type, which is of ochreous coloration, does not occur in the British Isles, although in one example of var. _barrettii_, reared by Mr. Kane, a faint ochreous tinge was apparent, but this faded out in a few weeks. Fig. 2, Plate 123, represents a specimen, kindly lent by Mr. R. Adkin, of var. _barrettii_, Doubleday, a form discovered in Ireland, at Howth, by the late Mr. C. G. Barrett, in June, 1861. In 1879 a specimen was taken on the coast at Ilfracombe, North Devon; one example was reared from a caterpillar found at Tenby, South Wales, in 1884, and one was captured in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, in 1897. In the last mentioned year specimens were taken by the late Major Ficklin on the coast of Cornwall, and as the Cornish form differs from the Irish form in being grey instead of brown, it has been named var. _ficklini_, Tutt. A second specimen was obtained in North Wales in 1899. Since its first detection at Howth the insect has been taken in limited numbers almost every year; and in 1906 Major C. Donovan recorded it as widely distributed along the coast of Co. Cork, the specimens being large, of a dark slate colour with distinct light whitish grey markings.
The caterpillar is pale ochreous with a pinkish tinge; the central line is greyish brown and the spiracles black; head reddish brown marked with darker. It feeds on the roots of seaside campion (_Silene maritima_), July to September. The moth flies from June to August. Like most of the species in this genus, it does not care for the collector's sugar, and except { 248} that an occasional specimen may be found resting on the rocks, the moths must be netted as they fly at dusk to the flowers of _Silene_. Staudinger considers that var. _barrettii_ is identical with var. _argillacea_, Hübn.
The obscurely marked slate grey insect shown on Plate 124, Fig. 5, was first found at Tramore, Ireland, and in the Isle of Man about the same year (1866 or 1867). Kane mentions that he has found the insect at Tramore, and also in eleven other localities on the rocky coast line of the South of Ireland, from Hook Point to Dingle Bay. Our form of the species, var. _manani_, Gregson, differs from the greyish blue continental type in its darker coloration, and this is intensified in the south-west corner of Ireland where specimens of a uniform bluish black occur.