VARIETIES OF NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 11 



with which the anterior wings are sprinkled. This makes some 

 specimens look quite melanic compared with others. But dark 

 as some of our specimens are, we do not appear to obtain (after 

 making all due allowance for the artistic demerit) any specimens 

 so dark as Esper's type. Esper's fig. 1 ('Die Schmetterlinge,' &c., 

 pi. cxxxiii.) is the tyi)e, and, although bad enough, is recognisable 

 at once as an exceedingly suffused form of tliis species. I have 

 made the following description of his figure : — 



" Probably a female (Esper calls it a male). Anterior wings 

 dark ochreous, entirely suli'used for two-thirds of the wing from 

 the base with dark fuscous, except along the inner margin, where 

 the ground colour is more noticeable; the outer one-third of the 

 wing, from the apex to the inner margin, paler ; this paler area 

 with a double transverse row of dots parallel to tlie hind margin, 

 and also a pair of dots near the edge of the inner margin at about 

 one-third from the base;* the nervures with a slight purplish 

 tnige ; the hind margin dark fuscous. The hind wings dark grey, 

 the base a little paler, with a slight purplish tinge." 



It will at once strike those who have a short series from our 

 south coast how unlike this description is to our usual forms ; 

 and yet when one looks at Esper's figure one recognises at once 

 that it is sublastris. I have only seen one Irish specimen, and 

 that is quite as dark as, perhaps a little darker than, the darkest 

 I have from Deal. Besides this very dark type, we in Britain 

 appear to get two very distinct forms, which are comparatively 

 rare, these extremes being joined by intermediate specimens, 

 which vary much, inter se, both in the depth of the ground colour 

 and markings, although of a general greyish ochreous hue. These 

 forms I shall call : — 



«. var. i^allida, uiihi. — Ground colour whitish-oclu'eous, incliniug to the 

 pale colour of lUho.rylea, tlie dark shades very distinct and standing out 

 clear m the pale ground colour; the transverse markings very distinct, a 

 transverse wavy line being formed by the union of the transverse row of 

 dots parallel to the hind niargui, wilh luuular arches. Hind wings dark 

 grey, with a distinct lunule, a pale transverse line outside the lunule, then 

 a dark transverse shade followed by another pale marginal line. I have 

 only occasionaily captured specimens of this variety at Deal. 



/S.- var. intermedia, mihi. — Intermediate between var. pallida and the 

 red var. lithoxijlea of Hiibner. Ground colour yellowish-ochreous, with a 

 dark grey tinge, the typical shades variable in depth of colour, and the 

 transverse lines also variable in the extent of their development. This is 

 the ordinary British form. 



y. var. lilhoxijlea, Hb. — This must not be confounded with the lithoxijlea 

 of Fab., which is a distinct species. HiJbner's fig. 240 may be described 

 as follows ; — " Anterior wings bright ochreous with a reddish tinge, a bright 

 red shade between the stigmata, and another bright red shade along the 



* These two dots are very unusual in suhlustris, although common in lUhoxylca. 

 I have one specimen of sublustris with both developed, many with one, but the 

 greater number of my long series have neither. 



