80 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



instance, most specimens are characterised by forms with broad 

 white or grey outer bauds, while in otliers the greater proportion 

 are of a dingy type, indistinctly marked, with only the lower 

 portion of the band represented. The bright-banded forms 

 much preponderate at Kenmare, Co. Kerry ; Kenvyle, Conne- 

 mara ; Markree Castle, Co. Sligo ; and Drumreaske, Co. Mona- 

 ghan ; while at How^th, and Lambay I. on the Dublin coast, and 

 Shannon Harbour, where the Bog of Allen reaches the Shannon, 

 and Castle Taylor, Co. Galway, obscurely marked forms are 

 chiefly in evidence. It would be desirable to investigate more 

 fully if any special forms affect island or rocky coast localities, 

 and if any local characteristics pertain to the neighbourhood 

 of bogs and moors, as well as the barren limestone regions 

 of Galway and Clare. The classification of variations given in 

 Tutt's ' Variations of Noctuae,' is based on such minute distinc- 

 tions that I am unable to follow the arrangement. The difference 

 between "reddish brown," "reddish black," and "blackish brown," 

 when, as we know, they grade insensibly into each other, requires 

 a discrimination which few people possess, and seems an in- 

 adequate basis for varietal names. Clerck's type, too, seems to 

 be given as very dilierent from that accepted usually on the Con- 

 tinent, and adopted by Staudinger, Sven Lampa, and others, 

 namely, having blackish fore wings, with a broad white sub- 

 terminal band. This form, as I have said, is abundant in some 

 Irish localities, and appears somewhat localised. 



Ab. latruncida, Lang. — Of a lighter hue, reddish, with whitish 

 or brownish outer fascia. This seems the most common Irish 

 form. 



Ab. cerata, Esp., 146, 4, 5, with coppery ground colour, with 

 distinct reddish fascia, occurs occasionally. 



A unicolorous pale sooty brown form (which does not corre- 

 spond toTutt's unicolor "blackish red," nor to Haworth's latrun- 

 cida) is frequent at Howth, as well as ab. fasciata, Tutt, the 

 greyish fascia often tending to become obsolete, so making a 

 transitional form to the following. 



Ab. cethiops, Haw. — Hare in Ireland. Howth ; not scarce. 



Of the group with greyish ground colour I have only met 

 with two Irish specimens, namely, ab. prcedwicida, Haw., marked 

 with red and black on the central area, Kenmare, Co. Kerry ; 

 and ab. siiffuruncida, Fr. (not Tr., which is referable to M. 

 liter osa), with a very bright pink central band enclosing the two 

 stigmata, with a slight similar tinge along the outer margin ; 

 Markree Castle, Co. Sligo. 



MiANA FASCiuNcuLA, Haw. — Common in most localities. The 

 ruddy type appears to be somewhat localised, and is not so 

 frequently met with as the muddy grey form named var. pallida^ 

 Tutt. The pale var. cana, Stdgr., with reddish central band, I 

 have never met with in Ireland. The var. siiffasa^ Tutt, an 



