VARIETIES OF NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 227 



black clots on nervures, hind wings grey -with a paler line parallel 

 to hind margin. Both tliese are figured by Hiibner under the 

 name of arundlnis. Guenee, in his ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 108, 

 writes .-—"Varies extremely in colour." In the 'Ent. Mo. Mag.,' 

 vol. xxii., p. 170, ;\lr. F. D. Wheeler, M.A., who has given 

 especial attention to this rare British species, writes : — " Our 

 Norfolk specimens are rather brown than red, some, indeed, of 

 them are getting on for black, and the colour helps to make 

 them inconspicuous." 



Nonagria, Och., sparganii, Esp. 



The type of this species is described by Treitschke, vol. v., 

 p. 323, as : — " alis anticis pallide flavis atomis fuscescentibus 

 adsj)ersis lunula media strigisque duabus punctatis nigris." 

 This species is a most variable one, and on the Continent 

 ranges from pale ochreous to deep red. Guenee, in his 

 'Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 108, writes: — "The males vary from 

 whitish grey and ochreous to reddish brown." The only British 

 specimen I have taken is strictly typical, in so far as it is pale 

 yellowish dusted with fuscous scales, especially under the median 

 nervure, with a median lunule (the character of this lunule is 

 rather uncertain, my specimen has a pale spot at the extreme end 

 of the discoidal cell with a black lunular circumscription placed 

 around its lower half), a transverse row of black dots parallel to 

 the hind margin, and another within the fringes. The British 

 specimens, however, vary much. Mr. Sydney Webb, who added 

 this species to the British fauna, writes of it : — " I may say that 

 it is, without doubt, of all the family, most given to vary. The 

 ground colour not only ranges from bone-colour to reddish 

 ochreous, but oftentimes these hues are both present (one 

 covering the other in streaks from the base overlying and extend- 

 ing beyond the wing rays), whilst the dark scaling seems to vary 

 in every individual " {in. litt.). The specimen figured (Entom. xiii., 

 p. 49), (the one to the left), is perhaps slightly darker than the 

 type, but otherwise agrees well, the lunule referred to can be 

 very distinctly seen. 



«. var. ohsoleta, mihi. — The anterior wings of the same pale 

 ochreous colour as the type, but sparingly scattered with fuscous 

 scales, the nervures simply a little more dusky than the ground 

 colour, the black lunule and all the markings of the central 



