Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 59. (Budapest 1967)

Kovács, L.: Data to the knowledge of Hungarian Macrolepidoptera II. Comparative population studies on three arctiid species by the aid of light traps

while in the other one the broods more or less differ from one another not only in size but also in colour and pattern. According to the available data, the pure populations inhabit the western confines of the country, further in the northern section of the central range, and in the SE regions of the Transdanubia. 1. The populations of the western border. With regard to size, this is the smallest group, with an alar expanse of 32 mm, or below 29 mm in the second brood. The basic colour of the first fore wing in the first generation is a dark dull brown or greyish brown with a brownish hue. The pattern is complete on both wings, the spots are big, generally well rounded. The apical spots of the hind wing are confluent, the basic colour of the wing a vivid pink (cf. Plate, Figs. 7—9). Hungarian localities: Sopron, Magyaróvár (Austrian specimens: Diirnstein, Oberweiden). 2. The populations of the northern central range. A group of medium measurements; the alar expanse is 30—32 mm, or 27—31 mm in the second brood. The basic colour of the fore wing is dark brown, occasionally with a rufous tint, in one case a rufous drab. The pattern is complete, the spots are deep black, the spots do not become pallid and no incomplete pattern is known. The spots are pointed and not rounded. The hind wing is a vivid carmine, not tending to pink, the spots medium or small. The colour and pattern schemes of the two generations almost completely agree (cf. Plate, Figs. 14—15). Localities: Gyöngyös, Maklár, Felsőtárkány, Répáshuta, Miskolc, Makkoshotyka. 3. The populations in the SE Transdanubia. The home population with the greatest alar expanse: 31—34 mm. The fore wing is dark brown, with a greater to smaller extense of a rufous hue. The spots are medium or small ; their size and distinctness might conspicuously vary even within the given specimen. The outer row can repeatedly turn quite indistinct. The spots of the hind wing are in one case moderately large, otherwise medium or small (cf. Plate, Fig. 10). Localities: Zalavár, Fácánkert, Szederkény. In other regions, namely in the rest of the country, there live mixed populations, within which partly the features of the pure populations vary, partly certain other characteristics also appear which do not occur as pure populations within our borders. In the northern sections of the Transdanubia, the features defining the western group gradually vanish, and one can observe the coming to the fore, at an increasing rate, those characterising the group of the northern region of the central range. The effects of the southern strains also increase, manifested in a gradually darkening basic colur and the growth of the alar expanse. In the hills around Buda, it is the southern forms which prevail, though the influence of the group from the central range is also strong, especially in the second brood. In the area between the Danube and the Tisza, the dark southern form becomes dominant, whilst the traces of mixture with the central range is rather delimited (observable especially in the second generation). On the other hand, specimens with a drab basic colour are regularly observable, obviously referable to an intermingling with populations living further to the south (cf. Plate, Figs. 11, 12). In the centre of the area beyond the Tisza, there occur yet large, dark brown specimens, but their pattern is indistinct. On the other hand, the montane form comes to the fore. According therefore to the comparative examination of the home Ch. maculosa populations, they differ so much from each other that they cannot be entirely relegated to the nominate form. The one which, on the basis of the available material,