90 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



Mr. Murray tells me that the imagines are found on the coast sand 

 hills near St. Anne's-on-Sea. They seem attached to the star grass 

 {Pmiinna arenaria /) on which they are found, at rest or bi cop., between 

 seven and ten o'clock. If the night be fine and there is no wind, flight 

 takes place about half-past seven. Numbers have been obtained on 

 the grass drying their wings, hence their time of emergence from the 

 pupa must be evening. Females taken in cop. readily deposit their 

 eggs in the boxes, and the young larvae hatch out in about 21 days. 

 All kinds of food-plant growing on the sand hills have been supplied 

 to the young larvfe, but they have up to now refused to feed, and 

 succumbed. Mr. Murray suggests that possibly the larva may be a 

 root feeder. About the first week in September has been the best time 

 to obtain the species, although specimens have been obtained as late 

 as September 28th. 



The original description of L. (/iieneei was made by Doubleday in 

 Stainton's Entoiiiolo<jist's Annual for 1864, pp. 123-4, from two of the 

 three original specimens captured in the year 1862 (I860'?). Double- 

 day forwarded one of the two specimens to M. Guenee, who returned 

 it with the information that it Avas identical with a specimen in his 

 cabinet, which was described in his work Species General des Lepidop- 

 teres, }\octuelites, vol. i., p. 182 (1852), as [.iiperina tentacea var. A., 

 and with the remark that it would probably prove a distinct species as 

 suggested in his description and note which is given herewith. 



" Laperina testacea var. A. Ailes super, d'un gris-blanc k peine 

 jaunatre, avec tous les dessins plus harmonieux et generalement mieux 

 ecrits. Ligne subterminale un peu moins coudee et plus parallele au 

 bord. Lunules terminales noires, bien distinctes. Ailes infer, d'un 

 blanc tres-pur. 



" Cette jolie variete, <ji(i pourrait Men constituer iine espece, se trouve 

 aux environs de Gien, ou elle a ete decouverte par M. Abicot." (The 

 italics are mine.) 



It will readily strike one that M. Guenee has, in a short, pithy 

 description, given exactly the characters of the insect now known as 

 L. (jueneei, in comparison with the typical L. testacea. 



Newman, in 1871, copied Doubleday's description and remarks 

 verbatim into his ISat. Hist, of British Moths, without giving any 

 additional remarks, and without figuring the species. 



In the Ento)iH)lo(jist, vol. xviii., p. 54 (1885), occurs the next refer- 

 ence to the species. Mr. G. B. Hodgkinson criticised the omission of 

 the name from the Ent. List of Brit. Lepidoptera, and gave more 

 precise details as to the capture of the only three specimens 

 then known. 



In vol. xxii., p. 206 (1889), of the same magazine, Mr. Tutt, in 

 his Contribution towards a List of the Varieties of Noctuae occurring in 

 the British Islands, and subsequently reprinted in his work, Brit. 

 Noctuae and their Varieties, vol. i., pp. 188-140, expresses the opinion 

 " that there does not seem to be the slightest doubt that this is any- 

 thing but a variety of testacea of an extremely pale ground colour." 

 All we can say is that the writer had not seen the actual specimens, 

 although he might possibly have seen continental forms of L. testacea 

 sent to him under the name L. testacea var. ijueneei, and so was misled 

 in spite of his usually clear intuition. 



In the same volume, at p. 271, Mr. R. South has recorded the 



