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

completely agrees with the form living around Vienna is delimited to our western confines. Of the groups showing uniform features, the one from the southern Transdanubia is essentially larger and darker. A comparison with the known subspecies reveal that, aside of the differences in size, they stand nearest to ssp. monacensis (16; Table, Figs. 40, 41), described by OSTHELDER on the basis of specimens originating from the environs of Munich. For a final adjudgement, however, one would need a suitable amount of comparative material as well as the exploration and analysis of the intermediate populations. Although the similarly unmixed populations of the northern section of the central range also seem to be nearly allied to the nominate form, the Figures submitted herein unequivocally demonstrate the existing differences (cf. Figs. 7—9; id. 14—15). Prior to taking a final standpoint, however, it were advisable to await the results of further investigations. In this respect, a nearer cognizance of the popiüations living north of our borders were also indispensable. I have not yet encountered in literature the problem of the mixed populations of maculosa, although their understanding is also important for the clarification of the taxonomic aspects of the species. 3. Eucharia casta ESP. An Eurasian species, ranging from the Pyrenees to the upper reaches of the' Yenisei and the Tarim district, respectively. The area is discontinuous, because thepopulations, or population groups, are separated by smaller to greater—occasionally by an enormous—distance from each other. The locality of the specimen serving for the description is put by ESPER to the environment of "Preszburg" ( = Bratislava = Pozsony) where, according to him, it was found by a collector named RUMMEL („der ... sie in einer Gegend bey Preszburg in Ungarn fand"). It was obviously by an inconsiderate interpretation of ESPER'Sremark that the locality "Pozsony" was listed in the Hungarian faunistical works, because the species had never since been observed around that town. Both in Hungary and in Slovakia, the nearest known localities lie 110—120 km to the east; nor would the term "bey Preszburg" fit them even with due regard to the erstwhileloose usage of defining a collecting site. We have to assume that either casta had become extinct in the immediate vicinity of Bratislava, or the first collector, in? accordance with contemporary entomological usage, had wanted to preserve the ecret of the exact location of collecting. In my opinion, the latter is the more probable, and I am rather convinced that the locality of the type-specimen should be looked for in the recent territory of Austria, near the eastern border, S or SW of Bratislava. Distribution in Hungary. The majority of the localities lie on the southern inclinations of the central range, from Tihany to the Mts, Bükk. The species reaches our southern borders only in the western section of the area between the Danube and the Tisza, where the localities follow one another in a narrow zone from Budapest to Tompa. Two sites are known from the Torna Karst ; one of them is now situated in Slovakia, the other, a quite distinct one, from the southern slope of the Kopaszhegy near Tokaj (cf. Map 3). Habitats. The majority of the populations of the central range live on the clearings of karst shrub woods ; they occur in many places concurrently with 0. pa-