133 



NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF 

 THE WEST OP SCOTLAND AND FIFESHIRE. 



BY J. GRAY, ESQ. 

 ( Continued from page 86.^ 



Leaving off in our last paper with the Bombyces, we now proceed to notice 

 the more interesting species of the Scottish Noctuce that have come under our 

 notice in this district; a group of much interest to the entomologist, whether as 

 regards the economy and curious habits of many of the species, or the beautiful 

 and often delicate markings with which they are adorned; some of them indeed, 

 possessing more allurements in that respect, than many of the more highly 

 coloured Diurna; a quality which even in the eye of a strictly scientific naturalist, 

 is as much admired, and far better appreciated, than by those with whom it is 

 the only point of interest. 



Even to the entomologist who has been accustomed to confine his attention 

 exclusively to British species, this remark cannot fail to prove sufficiently obvious; 

 but its full force can only be felt on examining the luxurious productions of 

 warmer cUmes, whose interesting forms and structure, combined with the exqui- 

 site loveliness of their markings, render this section of the insect world a field 

 which can hardly be trod without peculiar delight. 



Though these few notes on our native Lepidoptera have been called forth 

 solely by a desire of recording some portion of the Scottish productions, and of 

 illustrating the more general distribution of species; and though any attempt at 

 an arrangement has been studiously avoided, still we cannot help remarking the 

 propensity for the making of genera which this order of insects exhibits; not a 

 few species having been separated from their congeners under a distinct generic 

 title, on some ground or difference purely specific. One cause of this seems to us 

 to lie in the undue weight attached by some entomologists, to the characters of 

 the insect as exhibited in the caterpillar state. These we have always considered 

 to be much subordinate in value to those of the perfect insect, as partaking, in 

 some degree, of its own transitory nature at that stage, destined, as it is ere 

 long, to merge into a completely developed structure; the permanent characters 

 of which surely afford a much more obvious ground, and induce safer conclusions 

 for generic distinction. 



The exclusive partiality so often exhibited by British entomologists for native 

 species, which of themselves are totally inadequate for forming correct views 

 on the subject, is doubtless another reason why the generic divisions of our 

 native insects have been so frequently based upon such nice distinctions; a 

 partiality which can only result in the most narrow-minded views of the syste- 

 matic arrangement of one of the most numerous and interesting divisions of 

 the animal kingdom. 



In the following notes on the Noctum, we have only introduced such 

 species as have, fallen under our own observation, purposely omitting any notices 

 of the occurrence of those with which we have not been personally conversant; 



