SOCIETIES. 261 



specimen in which the area between the transverse Hne just beyonJ the 

 reniform and the hind margin, was unusually dark. There was also a 

 dark shade at the base, and the black dot under the orbicular had 

 become expanded into a longitudinal dash. Mr. Hill, a living larva 

 of Notodonti didcEoides from Epping Forest. Mr. Proiit, various 

 species from Sandown, Isle of Wight, including Satyriis hyperanthus 

 var. areie, Agrotis hmigera, Bryophila glafidifem, Aporophyla australis, 

 Cidaria picata, lodis vernaria, Emmelesia alchemillata etc. Messrs, 

 Tutt, Bayne, Milton and Battley also exhibited their series of the genus 

 Noctua, and Mr. Home of Aberdeen sent a very variable series of 

 N. /estiva from his district. 



Coleoptera : — Mr. Cripps, Silpha Icevigala, Quedms trlstis, Q. molo- 

 chinus, Ilybius fuliginosus, and Agabiis gnttatiis. Mr. Heasler, Quedius 

 timbrinus, taken among reed refuse on the sides of Barking Creek. 

 Mr. Milton, Cryptocephalus mtreolus, Philonthus fucicola, ^pus marinus. 

 and A. roboni. 



Mr. Tutt then read a paper on " The genus JVocfiia, with special 

 reference to JV. /estiva and N. con/lua,'" of which the following is a 

 brief summary : — 



" Our limited genus, which we call JVoctua, is only a part of the 

 comprehensive genus Agrotis in its broader form as accepted on the 

 Continents of Europe and America. Of our species in Noctua, — N. 

 subrosea and N. /ennica belong rather to our limited genus Agrotis, 

 whilst augur should be placed apart (it has been suggested by Butler 

 to restore Graphiphora for this purpose). This genus, closely allied 

 to, but yet fairly separate from Agrotis^ contains some very interesting 

 species from the point of view of variation, but there is not the same 

 polymorphic character exhibited by the species as in the latter genus, 

 Noctua /estiva is the most variable species both in colour and markings. 

 N. dahlii and N. neglecta offer a wide range of colour variation, whilst 

 N. glareosa varies from pale whitish-grey to intense blackish, and JV. 

 xanthographa goes through an almost similar range. Bestiva var. con/iua 

 of Treitschke has for a long time puzzled our British lepidopterists, 

 more particularly it would appear, because writers in the entomological 

 magazines have of late years referred to the Shetland form of this 

 species, as well as to the small Scotch /estiva-\\\iQ form, under the 

 name of con/lua. These Scotch specimens are undoubtedly /estiva^ 

 the Shetland species being the true con/iua. There is one special 

 point of variation in the genus worthy of notice ; I refer to the C-hke 

 mark passing round the orbicular in the three closely allied species 

 trianguluin, ditrapezium and c-nigrum. It is formed of two quadrate 

 spots — one, between the orbicular and reniform, the other, beyond the 

 orbicular (nearer to the base). In c-nigruni, these two spots are always 

 joined by a line passing under the orbicular ; in ditrapezium, they are 

 more often joined than not, — in my own series about three-quarters 

 are thus joined ; in triangulum, there are much fewer specimens having 

 them joined than distinct. The shape of the mark thus made varies 

 greatly, from two solid blocks with a line joining them, to a solid- 

 looking letter C, whilst frequently the normally quadrate spots become 

 somewhat triangular in shape, and thus tend more or less to obsolescence. 

 It is remarkable that the same superficial mark is developed in Tcenio- 

 canipa gothica and goes through the same gradations." The history o( 



