VARIETIES OP NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 809 



at the latter localit}', nictitans freely from the marram in copula. 

 I have as frequently taken palihdis in copula, but never nictitans 

 with paludis. 



In Plate I. the figs. 1 — 6 ?^Ye paludis ; figs. 7 — 12 are nictitans. 

 A comparison of these two rows of figures will, I trust, make the 

 foregoing notes clear.] 



The type of this species (nictitans) is of a reddish grey colour, 

 with a white reniform and pale yellowish orbicular (Plate I., 

 fig. 7). The Linnaean description, ' Systema Naturfe,' p. 847, is 

 as follows : — " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alls ferrugineo-griseis, 

 stigmate reniformi, niveo pupilla lunari lutea." The variation of 

 this species lies chiefly in depth of ground colour, and colour of 

 the reniform stigma (Plate I., figs. 7-12). The ground colour 

 varies from pale pinkish red through different shades of ferruginous 

 red to almost black. The reniform stigma varies from white, 

 through various shades of orange, to red. Mr. Porritt, in ' The 

 Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union,' Part vi., p. 73, 

 writes of the Yorkshire specimens " often very strongly coloured." 

 Hiibner figures (221) the type under the name oi clirysographa. 



a. var. rosea, mihi. — A pale red form (Plate L, fig. 9), with trans- 

 verse lines very indistinct; the orange orbicular scarcely noticeable, 

 being but little difi"erent to the ground colour ; the reniform large 

 and well-defined, white in colour as in the type ; the fringes 

 of the hind wings very rosy, a distinct red line bordering the 

 hind wings, the red shade extending some distance within the 

 outer margin. The form is rare and apparently northern. I 

 have never seen it in the south. Mr. Harrison captures it at 

 Barnsley, and Mr. Lawson has sent me specimens from Perth. 

 Fig. 9 is taken from a specimen captured by Mr. Lawson at Perth. 



iS. var. erythrostigma, Haw. — Haworth's description of this 

 variety (which he treated as a distinct species) is as follows : — 

 " Alis griseo rufescentibus, strigis variis tenuissimis saturatioribus, 

 stigmate rotundo reniformique rufis." " Alse posticte subfuscae 

 ciliis rufescentibus. Stigma subinde fere obliteratum est " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 240). This variety is of the same 

 colour as the type, but the reniform stigma is red instead of 

 w'hite (Plate I., fig. 10). It occurs everywhere with the type. I 

 have specimens from Rannoch and other Scotch localities, which 

 differ in no way from others captured in London, Deal, and 

 other southern localities. It is figured in Newman's ' British 



