312 LEPinOPTERA. 



3. S. ambigualis, Tr. — Kxpause J inch (18-20 mm.). 

 Fore wiugs rather bro.id, arey ; costa gently arched ; first line 

 rather perjiendicular, with deep black indentations, not pro- 

 duced on the costa ; second line bluntly angulated, edged 

 with white ; discal spot X-shaped. Hind wings smoky 

 white. 



Antennae of the male short, simple, dark grey, faintly 

 barred at the back with white; labial palpi long, rather 

 slender, bent down, black-brown outwardly, grey within ; 

 maxillary palpi visible, but small and obscure ; head and 

 thorax whitish-grey, the collar rather browner ; abdomen 

 silvery grev. Fore wings rather squared behind ; costa but 

 little arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin very 

 little oblique and faintly curved ; colour greyish-white, or 

 white dusted with grey-brown : first line black-brown, shaded 

 off behind, slightly carved, but erect, indented in the middle 

 where it is almost joined by the claviform stigma as a thin 

 black streak ; second line black, indented but tolerably direct 

 to above the middle, where it makes a square angle, returning 

 to the costa ; outside it is a white edging, followed bj^ two 

 large grey-brown clouds which occupy almost the whole 

 hind-marginal space ; orbicular stigma represented by a 

 black dot in the shading of the first line ; reniform stigma 

 X-shaped, often with a brown cloud in the upper and lower 

 spaces ; cilia white, dotted with grey-brown. Hind wings 

 ample, blunt at the apex, rounded behind ; opaque-looking 

 but silky, smoky white shading to a brown tint near the 

 hind margin. Female similar. 



Underside of the fore wings shining smoky brown ; costa 

 browner. Hind wings white, with smoky apical clouding. 

 Body and legs greyish-white. 



Not very variable in colour or markings, though speci- 

 mens are found having a browner tint or in which the mark- 

 ings are more, or less, distinct. There is considerable varia- 

 tion, however, in size ; specimens from wooded heaths 

 situated upon high hills, as at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, 



