NOCTUIDiE. — ORTHOSIA. 143 



Sp. 6. pallida. Alis uniformiter pallescentibus, strigd posticd rufcL extus albidd, 

 aMque punctorum, stigmatibus pallida marginatis. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 5 — 6 

 lin.) 



No. pallida. Haworth.— Or. pallida. Steph. Catal. part ii. p. 71. No. 6134. 



Head^ thorax, and anterior wings, of a nearly uniform pale rufous-brown, 

 with the ordinary stigmata having a slender pale margin alone conspicuous : 

 the outer one heart-shaped, and sometimes dusky : between this and the 

 hinder margin is an oblique, nearly straight, rufous striga, margined exter- 

 nally with pale ochraceous, followed by a row of very minute fuscous dots 

 near the hinder margin: ciUa short and cinereous: posterior wings rather 

 dusky, with the cilia pale rufescent. 



Few specimens only of this rather doubtful species have hitherto 

 occurred, all, I believe, captured within the metropolitan district; 

 I have taken it in Richmond Park: — it closely resembles some of 

 the varieties of the preceding. 



Sp. 7. stabilis. Alls anticis griseo-ferrugineis stigmatibus Jlavicinctis, strigd 

 externd pallidiore fusco adnata, margine nigra punctata. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 

 3—6 lin.) 



No. stabilis. Wein. V.—Ox. stabilis. Steph. Catal. part ii. p. 71. No. 6135. — 

 Albin, plate 76. f. e — h. — plate 75. f. a — e. Var. (S. 



Antennae ferruginous : head, thorax, and anterior wings rusty-griseous, reddish- 

 gray, or flesh-coloured ; the latter vnth one or two dusky or black spots at the 

 base, the second and third ordinary strigse rather obsolete, composed of minute 

 fuscous dots, and each arising from a dark costal spot ; the fourth slightly 

 repanded, pale ochraceous, margined internally with fuscous; the hinder 

 margin with a row of minute black dots; the stigmata shghtly dusky, with 

 pale-yeUowish margins ; the nervures towards the apex of the wing also 

 yellowish or ochraceous : abdomen pale reddish-ash : posterior wings fuscous, 

 with rufous cilia. 



Var. jS. Steph. Catal. I. c. — Anterior wings with the stigmata united, the pale 

 margins forming a figure of 8. 



Var. y. Steph. Catal. I. c. — Anterior wings with the margins of the stigmata, 

 and the posterior striga, more or less rufescent. 



The varieties of this inconstant species are endless : in some examples the strigae 

 are very distinct, in others completely obliterated ; some have a broad angu- 

 lated dusky fascia between the stigmata, others want it : the stigmata are 

 frequently remote, occasionally united, and a third, situated in place of the 

 teliform one of the Agrotes, is frequently indicated by a yellowish hook : the 

 anterior wings are found of a dusky-ash, irrorated with pale and darker 

 atoms, or of a plain hoary-ash ; and the posterior margin is sometimes desti- 

 tute of the row of black spots. 



Notwithstanding the appellation which has been given to this species, in contra- 

 distinction to that applied to the first, both are equally variable ; and were 

 the judgment of authors alone to guide us, their names ought to be reversed. 



