VARIETIES OF NOCrU.E IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 153 



" red and grey forms in both sexes occur in the Huddersfield 

 district." There are numbers of intermediate forms, but the 

 following are some of the most striking forms that have been 

 described : — 



1. Grey, with branched central line and stigmata glaucous, 

 = graminis, L. 



2. Grey, with white three-branched central line, stigmata 

 yellowish, = gramineus, Haw. 



3. Eed-brown, with ochreous ramose central line, ochreous 

 stigmata, = tricuspis, Esp., <? . 



4. Red-brown, with white ramose central line, whitish 

 stigmata, = tricus-pis, Hb., = var. riifa. 



5. Grey, with red costa, with ochreous ramose central line, 

 ochreous stigmata, = graminis, Hb., = var. rafo-costa. 



6. Dull yellowish brown, with ochreous ramose central line, 

 ochreous stigmata, = hibernicas, Curt. 



7. Pale ochreous yellow, with dark nervures, white orbicular 

 and reniform with a bifid line joining base of reniform, = tricuspis, 

 Esj)., ? , = var. ochrea. 



The first five make the only reasonable method of arrange- 

 ment of the varieties which can be readily adopted, and include 

 most of the genei'al forms. From Curtis's figure, pi. 451, it can 

 be seen that No. 6 is only an extreme modification of No. 8, 

 and I have never seen an extreme form like No. 7, although 

 Mr. Dobree has it from Southern Germany. Two other 

 marked forms occur : one unicolorous dull grey-brown, with all 

 the ordinary pale transverse lines of the same colour as the rest 

 of the wings, but slightly paler, the whitish reniform and a white 

 blotch at its base alone being distinct of all the original markino^s ; 

 another form has the central ramose line developed into a large 

 white blotch. In Humphrey & Westwood's 'British Moths,' 

 p. 113, we find: — "Varieties occur with the fore wings of a 

 uniform colour, except the pale yellow marks and stigmata; and 

 others have the latter markings edged with black on a plain 

 ground." 



a. var. gramineus, Haw. — No. 2, above. This is described hy Haworth 

 as, " Alls gfisfis liiiea trifurca alba, siigmatibus palhdis, Hneolisque acutis 

 ad apiceni atris." " Affiiiis prsecedentibus [popularis] at duplo miiiur ; 

 jiiitennis ferrugiiieis minus pectinatis et absque strigis motiihlbniiibus. 

 jMaris alte uuticae grisese liuea media trifurca albida a basi post-inodiuiii 

 ducta; supra hueam raacuhs tribus nigris ditformibus parvis et sti<'muta 

 ordinaria kitesceutia circulo pallidiore: subtus Ihieam macula altera iii<'ra 

 trigoua, et stigma tertium teliforme lutesceiite nigro ciuctum sed ali(pio 

 iiiterruptum ; subtus hoc stigma liueola nigra ad marginem teiiuiuiem 

 prope basin. Ordo transversus puuctorum nigrorum cuspidatorum versus 

 marginem posticum. AUe posticte fusca), ciliis tlavicantibus " (' Lepidoptera 

 liritunnica,' pp. 117, lly). This is probably the must commou Ibriu 



