230 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the reniform is strongly marked with blackish grey, outlined with 

 whitish, and with a grey centre ; the orbicular is pale brownish ; 

 the costa has some dark spots, and near the apex are a few 

 yellowish spots. Hind wings whitish grey, shaded with black at 

 the outer margin ; veins darker ; transverse line sometimes trace- 

 able. This Noctua varies considerably in the amount of light and 

 dark shading of the wings ; in some specimens the colour of the 

 wings is very dark, and frequently black is mixed with the 

 ground colour." 



This is another variable species, the ground colour ex- 

 tending from a pale unicolorous ochreous-grey, with scarcely 

 any markings (var. renardii), to a bright reddish ochreous 

 (var. ochracea), through a dark grey form much suffused with 

 red (var. anceps), to a form entirely made up of a dark, dirty- 

 grey ground colour, much suffused with darker greyish brown 

 (the type). The dark red suffused forms (var. anceps) and 

 the dark earth-grey and brown (the type) forms are much 

 more common in Kent than any others, the pale ochreous 

 and reddish ochreous forms being rare. The var. rejiardii of 

 Boisduval is an extreme development of the pale ochreous form. 

 Of the general variation of this species, Guenee writes, "It 

 varies much, but all its modifications are too unimportant and 

 unstable to constitute distinct races" ('Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 195). 

 There would thus appear to be four fairly distinct forms : — 



1. A pale unicolorous grey form, = var. renardii, Bdv. 



2. A reddish ochreous form, = var. ochracea. 



3. A dark grey, mottled with reddish ochreous, form, 

 = var. anceps, Hb. 



4. A grey, mottled with dirty brown, form, = sordida, Bork. 



a. var. renardii, Bdv. — This is a very pale unicolorous variety of 

 sordida, with the markiugs in its extreme forms ahriost entirely absent, but 

 leading up by intermediate forms into the other varieties. Guenee, in his 

 ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 195, thus writes of this variety: — " This is certainly 

 only a very pale variety of anceps. All the markiugs have disappeared, and 

 the upper wings are entirely of a whitish ochreous colour, with the 

 exception of the terminal space, where there remain traces of greyish 

 colour. The lower wings and the underside are of a pale shining whitish, 

 without markings. North of France." This variety apparently occurs bat 

 rarely in England. I have taken it at Sandwich, Deal, and Strood, but 

 have never met with it in any other locality, altliough I have received it 

 from Brighton. It occurs in both sexes, and the hind wings show a large 

 amount of dilTuience in the quantity of grey shading, some having a distinct 

 dark marginal band ; otiiers agreeing with the above description, and being 

 witliout any very definite trace of it. 



/3. var. ochracea, mihi. — This is a very pretty variety. It is of a very 

 pale yellowish ochreous ground colour, strong!}' tinged with red (I have one 

 specimen entirely reddish ochreous), with the stigmata and transverse lines 

 very pale grey. As in var. renardii there is scarcely any of the dirty grey 

 colour present in the type, except on the outer margin. The variety occurs 



