VARIETIES OF NOCTU^ IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 61 



figure satisfies precisely the description of some of the beautiful forms 

 brought by Mr. Salvage from the Isle of Lewis in 1887. From a figure 

 kindly lent me by Mr. Mosley, of Huddersfield, this would appear to be the 

 var. borealis mentioned by Mr. Porritt in his ' List of Yorkshire Lepidop- 

 tera,' p. 73, where he says, " Mr. S. L. Mosley says the varieties alopecurus, 

 Esp., and borealis, also occasionally occur at Huddersfield." With refer- 

 ence to this var. borealis, Mr. Mosley, in September, '88, wrote: — "I only 

 know the variety borealis, by Mr. Bond having pointed out one in his cabinet 

 with the remark, 'That is var. borealis!'' 1 took one hke his specimen 

 here, of which I send you a drawing." This drawing represented without 

 doubt Hubner's putris. Li Humphrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' 

 vol. i. p. 159, there is a remark about borealis as follows: — " As Mr. Curtis 

 gives the putris of Hiibner as probably identical with his Xylina borealis, 

 and as Boisduval gives putris as a variety of rurea, Mr. Curtis's insect is, 

 probably, a variety of this species." Of this, I think there is now no 

 doubt. I have only seen British specimens of this var. from Lewis, but 

 Mr. Motley's figure proves it to occur at Huddersfield. 



e. var. covibusta, Haw. — Haworth's description of this variety is as 

 follows: — "Alis fusco-brunneis obsolete nebulosis, figura 3 vel 5 medio 

 notatis." "In medio anticarura alarum stigmata ordinaria obsoleta, albido 

 marginata, anticura ovale antrorsum valde inclinante; exterius auriforme 

 margine albo interrupto et inde representat figuram 3 vel 5. Posticse alae 

 fuscse ciliis subflavicantibus." This variety is generally considered as 

 synonymous with alopecurus, Esper, by Continental authors; but Newman, 

 in his ' British Moths,' p. 283, points out the following phrase in Haworth's 

 description, " fusco-brunneis et stigmata ordinaria albido marginata," which 

 he says is not applicable to var. alopecurus. I quite agree with this 

 and hence have separated them. I have no dark specimen with the 

 stigmata outlined in white, but I do not doubt_,but that specimens occur in 

 some cabinets. 



^. var. combusta of Hiibner (fig. 366) is different to the above. It has 

 the anterior wings, with an almost typical, reddish-brown costa, with pale 

 costal streaks and distinct stigmata, outlined in paler, but with the lower 

 half of the wings unicolorous, dark, reddish-brown. Hiibuer's combusta 

 seems a combined form of var. intermedia (costal half of wings), and var. 

 alopeczirus (inner marginal half of the wing). This appears to be the 

 nearest approach to the dark forms generally obtained in Britain. Guenee 

 refers combusta, Hb., to alopecurus, Esp., an evident error. His descrip- 

 tion, too, of alopecurus, Esp., ' Noctuelles,' vol. v. p. 138, is more like 

 Hiibner's combusta than Esper's alopecurus. Guenee writes, "The ground 

 colour of the anterior wings entirely of a deep, red-brown colour, with some 

 bright marks on the costa, and the outside of the reniform surrounded by 

 yellow. Fringe of the four wings equally brown, with some yellow streaks on 

 the superiors, and a reddish line in the inferiors. Females still darker." 



tj, var. alopecurus, Esp. — From the alopecurus, Esper, Plate cxlvii., fig. 

 3, I made the following description ; — " The anterior wings of a dark 

 reddish-brown, with five strong, black, costal streaks, no orbicular, large 

 reniform of the ground colour, with black centre and black circumscription, 

 three white dots on costa near apex, three parallel to hind margin near 

 apex, three tiny white dots at anal angle, nervures black. Hind wings 

 dark grey, with blackish nervures and lunule. Very few British specimens, 

 I believe, wiU answer to this description of alopecurus. Guenee says of 



ENTOM. — MAKCII, 1889. H 



