36 LEPIDOPTERA. 



especially in the North of Ireland, the ground colour is of a 

 more dull smoky, or blackish-umbreous, with little or no in- 

 dication of the reddish gloss ; in the more southern portions 

 of that country of a rather warm brown, and some individuals 

 have the transverse lines beautifully clear; one such is in 

 the Rev. W. F. Johnson's collection. Specimens from the 

 North of Scotland are sometimes tinged with black. The 

 Rev. C. T, Cruttwell lias called my attention to the curious 

 circumstance that in this species, as in some others, Suffolk 

 specimens frequently present a greyer shade than is usual 

 elsewhere. In Mr. S. J. Capper's collection are specimens 

 having a black dash from the reniform stigma ; in that of Mr. 

 Sydney Webb is one having the stigmata large and conspicuous, 

 with added black dashes ; also another of a very pale brown 

 colour with only two stigmata visible; and in that of Dr. H. 

 H. Corbett, one having the two upper stigmata united by a 

 black bar. By far the most extraordinary aberration of this 

 species, however, which has come under my notice, is that 

 which was formerly mistaken for Agrotk Helvdtna. It is of 

 a beautiful soft shining pinkish-brown, shading off very 

 slightly paler behind, and with hardly the faintest indications 

 of the usual markings. Its thorax is of the same colour, as 

 also its head, and its hind wings whitish, tinged with grey 

 behind. Its shape is accurately that of the present species, 

 and I feel no doubt of its identity. The specimen before me 

 is in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason ; a second (as previously 

 stated) is in that of Mr. G. Baker, of Burton-on-Trent ; both 

 were captured, with another, in Derbyshire, but of the third I 

 have no recent tidings. 



On the wing in June and July, in the North to the begin- 

 ning of August. 



Laeva stout, nearly cylindrical, slightly enlarged behind to 

 the twelfth segment ; head rather small, rounded, shining, 

 pale brown, much reticulated with dark brown, and with a 

 broad blackish-browu stripe down the centre of each lobe ; 



