VARIETIES OF NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 225 



side of each wing, which neurica never has." My good friend, 

 Herr Hoffmann (Hanover) also adds: — " Plerrich Schaffer declared 

 both forms neurica and arundineta to be different species, and so 

 did Staudinger afterwards." A full description of this variety is 

 given above in the comparison with the type. 



/3. var. rosea, raihi. — Like the variety arundineta, but with the 

 whole of the anterior wings suffused with a rich rosy colour. 

 The form is not common, but the Cambridge collectors get a few 

 every 3'ear. 



y. var. dissoluta, Tr. — This variety was first figured by Hiibner, 

 G59 — 661, under the name of neurica, but since Treitschke first 

 described this form under a distinct name, his name has been 

 retained as the varietal name. Dr. Staudinger, in his 'Cata- 

 logue ' (p. 100), treats it as distinct, and writes of it : — " a more 

 robust species, wings spotted underneath." Hubner's fig. 659 is 

 a male, the anterior wings very dark brown, with no orbicular, 

 the outer half of the reniform lined in witli pale, a pale line 

 beyond the reniform parallel to the hind margin. Posterior 

 wings with the outer margin blackish grey, the base paler, with a 

 distinct black lunule. Hiibner's fig. 660 is an underside, and 661 

 is a female, which is marked like the male, but rather larger. A 

 fair figure of this variety is in Newman's ' British Moths,' p. 271, 

 fig. 2. Mr. Warren writes me : — " The dark jieurica of old time 

 came from Yaxley, Hunts." It is not obtained in any of the 

 British localities for neurica at the present time. 



Nonagria, Och., gerninipuncta, Haw., Hatchette. 

 Haworth published the following description of the type : — 

 " The wings reddish fuscous, with a broad red band along 

 the inner margin, and two small white spots in the place 

 of the posterior stigma." — ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 176. 

 As the name signifies, the great character of the type is the 

 presence of the reniform as two distinct white spots. This 

 form Hiibner figures (628 and 629) as guttans. Dr. Staudinger 

 seems to lose sight of the fact that this is the type, for in his 

 ' Catalogue,' p. 106, he writes : — " ab. guttans, Hb., reniform 

 stigma in two separate spots." Guenee treats paludicoUi as the 

 type and guttans as a variety. Both Ilaworth's description and 

 Hiibner's figure ignore the presence of a black dot between the 

 double white spot on the base. The number of white spots 



