VARIETIES OF NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 51 



most of the woods within a few miles of the metropolis. I have 

 never taken the pale type in my own district (Blackheath), 

 although it is common enough in Darenth, Chattenden, and other 

 woods only a few miles off, in which the var, sufiisa is rarely seen, 

 y. var. cusjns, Stephens (non Hb.). — There is a continental 

 species of this name closely allied to A. psi, which species 

 {cusjns, Hb.) Stephens undoubtedly considered the variety of 

 2Jsi he described to be. This proved not to be so. Stephens' 

 name therefore has been retained as the varietal name to j^si. 

 His description is : — "Very similar to the last (.1. tridens), but 

 rather larger, cinereous, with a black lateral thoracic line ; 

 anterior wings greyish white, a little tinted with luteous, with a 

 strongly ramose black lineola at the base, and a powerful black 

 undulated posterior striga, in which are two black ^--like marks ; 

 the stigmata are nearl}^ as in the last (tridens), and the cilia 

 whitish ash, spotted with black ; posterior wings whitish, with a 

 dusky central lunule ; a transverse striga beyond the middle and 

 posterior fimbria." I have specimens in my cabinet labelled 

 Chattenden, July, 1885 and 1886, which answer exactly Stephens' 

 description ; also one taken on the Shooter's Hill Eoad in July, 

 1886. The specimens are all large and characteristic. 



Acronycta, Och., leporina, L. 

 a. var. hradijponna, Tr. — This was treated by our early 

 lepidopterists as a distinct species. It is very much suffused, 

 and has scarcely any trace of the white colourwhich characterises 

 the type, the colour of the anterior wings being of a dark 

 uniform grey. The black markings are of necessity less pro- 

 nounced, and blend with the general ground colour. This 

 variety is represented in the second figure in Newman's 'British 

 Moths,' p. 251. The type of this species, leporina, has the 

 ground colour of a pure white. Most of our specimens would be 

 referred by Continental lepidopterists to var. hradi/porina. 

 Nearly all my series are of the grey form. In Entom. x. 129, 

 the late Mr. Prest writes : — " I have taken A. leporina for nearly 

 twenty years, but never took the pale form near here (York) ; 

 ours arc all the variety bradjjporina.'' Mr. Dobree, of Beverley, 

 also tells me that is so throughout the E, Biding of Yorkshire. 

 In Entom. x. 93, the late Mr. Nicholas Cooke writes : — " In 

 this neighbourhood (Liscard) we take leporina of a tolerably 



