206 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



white, giving it a peculiar appearance. I have also seen very 

 brown specimens from Barnsley. Haworth named three forms 

 of this species, and Guenee described two others besides the 

 type. There is but little doubt that the guen^ei of Newman's 

 ' British Moths,' p. 297, is only an extreme variety of this species. 

 Haworth's three varieties are all based on the character of the 

 mark, which joins the transverse lines, and which is situated 

 directly under the stigmata. The form in which this mark is 

 absent he calls lunato-strigata, from the lunar mark in connection 

 with the outer striga being the principal character ; the form in 

 which this mark is a simple hook he calls unca, and in that in 

 which it forms an x-like mark he calls x-'^^otata. The following, 

 therefore, is an attempt to tabulate the named varieties : — 



1. Var. ohsoleta. — Pale greyish white, with no darker markings 

 whatever. 



2. Y'HY. gueneei. — Pale greyish white, some of the markings 

 indistinct. 



3. Var. cinerea. — Ashy grey, with distinct markings. 



4. Var. nigrescens. — Blackish grey, with indistinct markings. 



5. The type. — Brownish or brownish grey, with well-developed 

 central band. 



6. Var. lunato-strigata. — Greyish, tinged with reddish or 

 brown ; striga beyond reniform composed of lunules, but no 

 mark under stigmata. 



7. Var. unca. — Greyish, tinged with red or brown ; longitudinal 

 hook-shaped mark under stigmata. 



8. Var. x-notata. — Like unca, but the longitudinal mark 

 X-shaped. 



a. var. ohsoleta, mihi. — Of a pale ochreous-grey colour, with all the 

 linys, markings and stigmata still paler. This is an extreme pale uni- 

 colorous form, and seems excessively rare. I have specimens taken in 

 Deal, and Mr. Percy Russ has sent it to me from Sligo ; I have also a 

 specimen closely resembling this obsolete form from Mr. Robson, at 

 Hartlepool ; and Mr. Porritt, writing to me some time since, states, " A 

 pale yellowish form occurs near Huddersfield " [iyi Litt.). 



(3. var. gueneei, Dbdy. — There does not seem to be the slightest doubt 

 that this is anything but a variety of testacea of an extremely pale ground 

 colour, as in var. ohsoleta, but differing from that variety in having most of 

 the characteristic markings of testacea rather more distinctly marked, owing 

 to the paler ground colour ; otherwise there appears to be no difference — 

 certainly no specific difference — between the variety and testacea. The 

 original description of Mr. Doubleday is transcribed verbatim into Newman's 

 ' British Moths ' (p. 297), together with notes on its occurrence. Mr. 

 Doubleday writes that Guenee stated it to be his var. a (' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 182). If properly worked, I believe testacea would in many 

 districts furnish a fair proportion of gueneei. Staudinger, in his List, 

 says of it, " Al. ant. unicolor, nigro alboque irroratis." Mr. Vine, of 

 Brighton, sent ipe a specimen of the genus Luperina to look at a short 

 time since, about which he wrote : — " I beat out a Liiperina from a black- 



