179 



CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS A LIST OF THE VARIETIES 

 OF NOCTUiE OCCURRING IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



By J. W, TuTT, F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 157.) 



Cerigo, St., niatura, Hufn. 

 Thanks to Herr Hoffman, of Hanover, I have been able to get 

 Hufnagel's description of this species from Berlin's ' Magazine,' 

 iii., p. 414. Tlie description is as follows: — '^ Phalcena matura 

 (Die Glanzmotte). Anterior wings brownish grey, with white and 

 light yellow markings, which are generally surrounded with brown. 

 Hind wings light yellow, with a broad brown margin." It will at 

 once be seen on looking through a long series of this species, that 

 there are two well-marked extreme forms, — one much marbled 

 with white and red, and with distinct transverse lines and 

 stigmata ; the other with these lines and markings very obscured, 

 and the marbling due to the white and red scales almost entirely 

 absent, although these are joined by intermediate forms. Newman, 

 in his 'British Moths,' pp. 295, 296, writes: — "Their colour is 

 various, most commonly bistre-brown of several shades, yet 

 sometimes tinged with brick-dust red, and always having four 

 transverse lines and the two discoidal spots mapped out, or, at 

 least, indicated in pale brown, grey, or white." Gruen6e, in his 

 ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 179, describes the variegated form under 

 the name of cytherea, as also does Fabricius in his ' Entomologia 

 systematica' &c., p. 57, No. 157, where he writes, " Noctua 

 cristata alls incumbentibus variegatis, striga alba ; posticis 

 flavis, margine fusco." Hiibner figures a striking form in his 

 ' Schmetterlinge,' &c., under the name of connexa, with the red 

 colour greatly predominating, while Esper's texta (pi. 108, fig. 5) 

 represents the most obscure form of this species. Guenee, in his 

 ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 179, remarks: — "One must breed this 

 species if one wishes to have fine specimens, for so fleeting is the 

 colour, that, even on emergence, it appears as if faded." Taking, 

 therefore, the variegated form as the type, I think it advisable to 

 refer simply to the two forms named by Hiibner and Esper. 



a. connexa, Hb. — Anterior wings with the base reddish brown to the 

 first transverse basal line ; between the first and second basal lines a broad 

 black line from the costa to the inner margui. A pale grey line beyond the 

 reniforni, beyond which to the hind margin the colour is blackish grey ; a 

 wavy, red transverse line runs from costa to inner margin. Hind wings 

 pale yellow, with brown margin and distinct nervures (Hlibner's ' Schmetter- 

 linge,' &c., fig. 548). 



(3. texta, Esp. — Esper, pi. 108, fig. 5, figures a variety of matura 

 under tins name, of which tlie following is the description : — '• Male. 

 Anterior wings almost unicolorous, dull purplish brown, wiih a dark streak 



