LARENTinA^—EUPITHECIA. 141 



costal maro-iu ; from the dorsal margin a series of dusted 

 mnl<reous lines partially crosses the surface ; hind margin 

 ed»ed with dark brown streaks : cilia paler dull brown. 

 Female similar. 



Underside of the fore wings shining pale smoky-brown, 

 rather darker toward the costa, where it is faintlj^ barred 

 with darker brown ; discal spot obscurely black-brown. Hind 

 wings smoky-white ; central spot dull black ; before and 

 beyond it is a series of curved transverse rows of small 

 smoky-black clouds ; hind margin darker. Body and legs 

 black-brown. 



Variable in the shade of ground colour from light or dark 

 umbreous to different shades of black-brown ; also in the 

 definiteuess of the markings, which in some specimens are 

 quite distinct, in others obscui-e, and again in others suffused 

 or almost absent. Moreover local or climatal variations are 

 very striking, specimens from Perthshire, Sutherlandshire, 

 and other mountainous parts of Scotland are often much 

 more strikingly marked, blackened, or having the ground 

 colour white in the middle area of the fore wings, the mark- 

 ings running into distinct and conspicuous transverse stripes, 

 and the cilia more distinctly spotted ; or the ground colour 

 very light brown with the markings more slender and less 

 definite. Curiously enough this phase of Scottish variation 

 seems to lead directly to that which is found j'ear by year 

 near Dover, Kent — a very pretty light form, in which the 

 ground colour is brownish-white and the markings, though 

 slender and not very pronounced, are uniformly and dis- 

 tinctly' present and suggest a rather even and regular banding 

 of fine lines. This form seems first to have been brougrht 

 under notice about the year 1861, when the late Mr. H. 

 Doubleday sent specimens to Guenee and Herrich-Schcefler ; 

 the former thinking it to be probably a variety of the present 

 species, the latter that it would prove to be new. Guenee 

 seems further to have suggested that it might be a variety of 

 M. uUimaria, and this name has been applied to it in some 



