A " POSER," STAINTON. 193 



ab. liiniiin-a. Fore-wing with dark brown in ^ > fnscous in 5 ; the 



claviform tilled in black, the orbicular white defined by black. 



These are easily recognised as a mutation of Standinger's Catalogue. 



So much for British custom and opinion at the present time. 



^Yhat do the continental authorities say in this matter ? In 



Staudinger's Catalof/, ed. iii., p. 151 (1901), is found the following : — • 



1401. Trux, Hb. 723-5 ; H.G. 770; Frr.B. 62; Tr. V., 2, 22; B.Ic. 



79-5 ; H.S. 525 ab. ; Gn. I., 279; Calb. Iris. I., 229, t. 12, 



f. 10 ; terranea, Frr. 34, 1; Initiciilosa, Dup., VI., 72, 5, 6. 



(a) ab. (et var. '>)oliri)ta, Stgr.; triKi; H.G., 768-769 ; B.Ic. 



79, 46, b ; tvii.r var. A., Gn. I., 279 ; (al. ant. viri- 

 descenti vel violaceo-griseis). 



(b) ab. (et var. ?), tctianea, Frr., 34, 1; tni.f., var. ('. Gn. 



I., 279 (al. ant. testaceis vel. griseo-rufescentibus). 

 (r) var. aiiiaxina, Stgr. (al. ant. sordide griseis, in $ ob- 

 scurioribus, linea transversa vel fascia media (umbra) 

 nigricante. 

 ('/) var. (et ab.) liiiwjp.ra, Steph., 111. p. 113, t. 20, f. 2; 

 Gn. I., 280; Tutt, Biit. Xoct., II., p. 14; Barr, 

 Brit, hep., III., t. 128, f. 1 (al. ant. macula sagitt. 

 distincte nigra). 



Not much real evidence here. Stephens was the original describer 

 of luniciera as a species. Both Tutt and Barrett dismiss the question 

 with merely quoting the guarded opinion of Guenee. Staudinger 

 himself evidently does not enter into the question but simply takes the 

 unfounded suggestion as a fact and catalogues accordingly. 



A perusal of Seitz, Macro. Lep. of World, Paltearctic Fauna, vol. 

 iii., p. 30, pit. 6, with 7 figs, of trux and its supposed forms, shows an 

 equally blind acceptance of this hitherto unbased opmion. 



In my own collection I have a series of 16 beautiful, picked 

 examples of limif/era (eight J s and eight ? s) from some 400 taken in 

 the Isle of Wight, by Mr. A. Hodges, the first proprietor of the Jvnt. 

 Record. They are absolutely distinctive in 'tone from any other 

 British Agrotid, and their markings, although variable in emphasis, 

 are always quite definite in position and general contour. There is a 

 peculiarly soft silkiness of texture, which is possessed by no other 

 Agrotid which I know, and the specimens were captured and not bred. 



The following is a sketch of the history of trx.r as a species and a 

 comparison of the figures and remarks given in various authors from 

 the time of its first appearance in Hiibner's great work. 



In 1826, Hiibner, Saiinn. cur. Scliiii., Xoctuae, pit. 155, tigs. 723 J , 

 724 y , 725 underside, gave three figures of a Noctuid which he named 

 trux. There is no reference to it in his meagre letterpress. There is 

 nothing in these three figures to compare with our lunit/cra in shape, 

 colour or markings. The male, tig. 723, has a pale yellow basal patch 

 on the inner margin of the forewing of considerable size, and the 

 outline of the wing is different from that of Inniijcra. Inside the 

 fringes of the hindwings there is a sharp black line interrupted 

 sharply by the veins of the wing into straight short dashes, and the 

 outer margins of all the wings are in no respect comparable with those 

 of hnwjera. The female, fig. 724, has a submarginal transverse line, 

 which stands out as a clear feature never apparent in any 2 luniiiera 

 and the outer margin of the forewing is much more convex, with the 



