VARIATION. 271 



Perth, for perhaps the best specimen I have ever seen of it It has the 

 basal area to the central shade of a clear bluish or slaty colour, the outer 

 area being of a bright red. Of this type Guenee writes : — " If we only 

 referred to the phrase in the Wien.-Verz., 'dunkelrothe und perlfarbige,' 

 and to the position of these species among those Noctu^ ' pupurfarbig,' 

 with delphi/iii civA pitrpurina, we should be left in great doubt, but the 

 figure of Hiibner, which was perhaps even made from the Theresien 

 collection itself, which is in fact half purple and half pearly grey, and 

 which represents well, however, our festiva, will serve to explain the 

 difficulty" {JVoctuelles, vol. v., p. 331). 



(2) Noctua, Linn., conflua^ Tr. — The narrow and more pointed fore- 

 wings of the Shetland specimens knov/n by the above name, as well as 

 the difference in tint from any form oi festiva, at once single this out 

 as distinct from the latter species. The line of demarcation between 

 this and festiva is as clearly definable as that between many other 

 species generally recognised as distinct. Treitschke's description of 

 the type is as follows : — " Apamea co?iflua. A. alls anticis hepaticis, 

 maculis ordinariis pallidioribus, strigis obsoletis confluentibus." 

 " Conflua is not much larger than Ap. strigilis. The fore wings are 

 liver-coloured, marbled more or less with yellowish- or reddish-brown. 

 It is more ochreous on the outer margin and around the paler 

 stigmata. Of the basal transverse line only a blackish dot is visible ; 

 the orbicular is very large and pale, whilst in the position of the end of 

 the claviform is a small black spot. The reniform is large, whilst, 

 l>etween the stigmata and beyond the orbicular, are dark quadrate 

 and triangular marks. Before the paler fringe is a pale wavy trans- 

 verse line, followed by a dark brown band. The hind wings have a 

 pale ochreous ground colour, with a darker lunule and pale yellowish 

 fringe" {Die Schmet. etc., vol. v., Pt, i, p. 405). Most of the speci- 

 mens of conflua have a deep brownish coloration, some being more 

 ochreous, and others red, the latter tint often being distinctly ob- 

 servable in the central area. It is rare that the ground colour is 

 entirely red, but I have such specimens in my series. Compared with 

 the polymorphic festiva, this is a constant species, but still it varies 

 considerably within narrow limits. The red-brown form, as described 

 above, is the type, the commoner grey-brown form is the borealis of 

 Zetterstedt, whilst there is another most striking form, greyish-brown 

 in colour as in borealis, but without the dark quadrate spot. I 

 am doubtful whether Zetterstedt's -diducta, which he compares 

 with Cerastis rubiginea, is a var. of conflua, but, as it is treated as 

 such by recent Scandinavian authors, I would include Zetterstedt's 

 description. There is some doubt whether Guenee, like Newman, 

 simply looked upon small festiva as cotflua, for he writes : — " It is 

 always very rare. I believe that it is found in the environs of 

 Paris, for in M. Boisduval's collection there is a specimen mixed 

 with X^x'a festiva, and which he, no doubt, reared with them" {Noctuelles, 

 vol. v., p. 332). Boisduval's fig. 3 {/cones, Plate 83) is a real Icelandic- 

 looking conflua, with " dark inner and outer margin, central and costal 

 areas slightly ochreous, pale stigmata, and dark red quadrate spot 

 between them." — J. W. Tutt. October, 1891. 



Variation in Colias C/Esonia. — " At rest, the roseate underwinged 

 females of October may be known a hundred yards away in a clover- 



