Blackmore, E. H.

English

Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia

II4 H.C. E:-<TOMOLO GI CA L SOCIETY. Mr. T om \ Vil son: A li tt le over a year ago Mr. Swaine was out and took stock of it. but it is not ve ry generall)T di stributed. It is local. \Ve seem to have most of it in S tanl ey Park. I do not th ink it is at Agassiz. and at Sechelt it may ve ry occas iona lly be seen. Mr. Day: The next paper is by Mr. E. H. Dlackmore. of V ictori a, on : "( n. ) F urth er Notes on the Genll s Hydriomena. (b.) Notes on th e Geometridce of Vancou ver Is land, wi th Addi ti ons and Correc tions of the Briti sh Columbi a Li st." FURTHER NOTES ON THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS HYDRIO-MENA, OCCURRING ON VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C. r, y E . J-:T. R r,,\CK MOR E . V I CTO R L \. B.c. Owin g to th e excepti ona ll y fin e weath er whi ch pre\'a il ed in this dist ri ct durin g th e past season , and whi ch has been ve ry favou rabl e to Geome te rs . 1 have coll ec ted a large number of specimens . some of w hi ch are nevv to sc ience a nd some new to the nrit ish Columbia Li st. I have al so had th e privil ege of stud y in g severa l p ri \"ate co ll ections w hi ch. combin ed with my ow n captures, has enabled me to make so me furth er additi ons to our li st and to su pplement th e notes contain ed in my art icl e on page 44 of Bull etin 4 of our Proceedings . I will confin e myse lf in thi s short pap er to a few notes on th e different species of th e genu s Hydriomena. S0111 e littl e time ago M r. F. \ Voll ey-D od, of M idnapore , A lberta, sen t m e a short se ri es of Hydriomena furcata var. quinquefasciata, and comparing th ern w ith V ictol'ia specimens in my coll ections, I was rath er surpr ised to find how mu ch th ey differed, both as to size and colouring. The Ca lga ry specimens are smaller, ran g ing from 30 to 32 mm. and bein g a g reyish-g reen colour . w hile th e V ictori a for ms measure from 33 to 35 111111. and are in 1110s t cases o f a wa rm brown colour , differ in g' in indi\'idual specimens il" t he depth of th e colouring, but non e approach-ing th e colour of the Calgary specimens. D uring th e past summ er M r . E . M. A nd erson . of t he P rov incial M useum, V ictoria. w hile on a col lect-ing trip a round A tlin , D.C., secured, amongst oth er interes ting things, a se ri es of t hi s insec t. and it is worth y of note how clearly th ey resembl e t he Calgary form s . bot h in size and colour. As M r. A nd erson 's specim ens have been compared with Packard 's type in th e U ni ve rsity M useum of Han'ard Coll ege a nd pronoun ced id enti ca l, it seems to m e that our Van-couve r Is land spec imens a re a di s tinct geographi ca l race. \ new addition to th e Driti sh Columbi a Li st is Hydriomel1'a furcata var. viridata Pack., of w hi ch I have taken two specimens, one at li ght on l\Iay 22n u, 19Q. and the other resti ng on a pine-tree trunk on Jun e 18th , 19 I...J.. Acco rdin g to l\Ir. L. \ V. Swett, thi s is an exceed in gly rare va ri ety, and I beli e \' e t hat previously it has not been found outs id e of Cali fo rni a, \\'hich is the type locality. PROCEEDING~ 1915. lIS In October last , while looking' ove r the collection of Mr. E. M. Skinner, of Duncan, B.C., I noticed a red variety of H. furcata which I thought mi ght be the var. resecta of Swett. Through th e kindness of Mr. Skinner I obtained th e loan of it and sent it to M r. Swett, who reported that it s lig htl y resembled resecta, but vvas no t that species . being close r to the E uropean variety testaceata Prout. H owever, a s' it is the only one that I have seen so far , it w ill have t o be left at that for the presen t. Since w ri t ing my las t article on this interes ting g enu s I ha ve been fort unate enough to capture two specimens of Hydriomena autumnalis va~. columbiata T aylo r. I obtained them at Duncan , B .C., on Ap ril 19th, 1914, res ting on tre e-trunks . Th ey puzzl ed m e for som e time, but throug h t he kindness of Mr. Swett, "vho loaned m e th e photo of Taylor's typ e, I was able to recognize them at once, and t here is no doubt of th eir id en t ity. Incidentall y thi s is th e only insect of w hich the la t e Rev. G. , :V . Taylo r wrote a poor descripti on . I t does not see m to occur in th e V ictoria D is tri ct , as I have not seen or taken a sp ecim en from here. Hydriomena autumnal is var. crokeri Swett. w hil e alway s \1n common, see ms to have been ve ry sca rce th is season, fo r w hil e con stan t ly on th e look-out fo r it , in t h e early sprin g J onl y managed to secure two sp ecim ens. O ne of t hese, however, was uni que in havin g th e g round colour d ec ided ly greeni sh . alth oug h having th e int ense ly black, irregul ar, median band ty pical of thi s vari ety . Com-menting on thi s insect, Mr. S wett says : " I have not seen thi s g reen va ri ety of crokeri before , and it is ve ry int eres ting to m e to see m y t heory proved. " Speaking of hi s t heory, he is referrin g to hi s colour schem e, w hich is full y explained in his article in th e Calladian Elltomologist for March, 191 I. Before leaying thi s hi g hly interes ting and difficult g roup I would like to m ention on e other that was taken by our wor thy P res id en t, Mr. G. O. Day . of Dun ca n, H. C. U nfortunately it is a n only specimen , and being a female it remains as an uni que fo r the present. b u t I a m li v ing in hopes that he w ill take a mal e of th e sam e speci es and so m ake a not her ad dition to our a lready swellin g li s t. vVritin g on this insect, 1\1r. Swett says: " Thi s is a m ost r ema rkabl e form , and I ha\'e not seen anythi ng like it. It is an und escribed ya ri ety of rube rata, poss ibl y a new specles . but I would no t like to desc rib e it w ithout t he mal e. " 

Further notes on the species of the genus Hydriomena, occurring on Vancouver Island, B.C.

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Further notes on the species of the genus Hydriomena, occurring on Vancouver Island, B.C.

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Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia