VARIETIES OF NOCTUiE IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 231 



in both sexes. I have captured it at Deal and Stiood, and received it from 

 Cambridge, but it is apparently a rare form. 



y. var. anceps, Hb. — The anceps of Hiibner is an extreme development 

 of the last variety, with the ground colour dark brown instead of pale ochreous, 

 but much mottled with reddish, as in that form, Hiibner figures it in his 

 ' Schmetterlinge,' &c., 484, the following being the description made of it : — 

 " Anterior wings ochreous-brown, tinged with reddish ; an abbreviated trans- 

 verse line followed by a complete basal line ; claviform outhned in blackish, 

 the reniform and orbicular in whitish ; directly beyond reniform, a double line 

 internally edged with black ; a pale wavy line close to hind margin, with a 

 W-shaped mark in its centre. Hind wings dark grey, with pale base ; two 

 pale transverse lines pass through the dark grey margin." I would include 

 under this varietal name all dark brownish forms mottled with red. This 

 is the most abundant form occurring in Kent, being much more abundant 

 than the type, which is of a greyish colour, marked with dirty brown. The 

 anceps of Hiibner is the usual form found in London. 



Mamestra, Och.,fii7'va, Hb. 

 The type of this species is represented by Hiibner's fig. 407, 

 which I have described as follows : — " Anterior wings reddish 

 brown, with an abbreviated, followed by a complete basal, 

 streak, both of which are ochreous and very pale in colour ; 

 stigmata outlined with yellowish, a dark transverse line passes 

 between the stigmata from costa to inner margin, two pale wavy 

 ochreous lines between the reniform and hind margin. Hind wings 

 grey, dark on the outer edge, with a pale line running through 

 the darker part." My own note is this: — "This is not a good 

 figure of furva as we know it, and presents a strong superficial 

 resemblance to L. ces-pitis, but the transverse lines are different 

 to those of that species, and agree exactly with those oi furva.'" 

 Guenee mentions two varieties, both from Russia ; and Freyer has 

 figured another. Herr Hoffmann, in the ' Stettin Entomologische 

 Zeitung,' writes of the Shetland furva: — "Kleiner und dunkler 

 als Stiicke aus den Schweizer Alpen." Guenee's description {vide 

 var. ochracea) of furva would answer very well for specimens I 

 have from Ayton (Berwickshire) and Paisley, except that the 

 ground colour is not yellowish brown ; but those from Aberdeen, 

 Pitcaple, and Sligo are much darker. My Paisley specimens are 

 of the ground colour of Hiibner's type, whilst the German, Swiss, 

 and French specimens are paler. Our Aberdeen and Sligo forms 

 apparently belong to var. infernalis and var. s'dvicola, which only 

 ap))ear to be slight modifications of freyeri. Taking Hiibner's 

 brown form as the type, — Guenee's /jtri-'a is a lighter, freyeri and 

 infernalis darker, and silvicola an extreme melanic form. 



a. var. ochracea, mihi. — Guenee, in his * Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 197, 

 describes /M)wt as : — " Anterior wings yellowish brown, with the three first 

 lines very distinct, wavy, geminated, and outlined with yellowish in the 

 middle ; the angulated line composed of lunules in contact, a series of very 

 small yellowish dots between it and the subterminal, which is very distiuct. 



