198 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



forms, which approach a sooty black. In Tutt's 'British Nocture' 

 the prevaihng colour of Irish specimens is correctly given as 

 brown or reddish brown. Having collected this species in many 

 localities in every littoral count}' in Ireland except Antrim, 

 Down, Mayo, and Clare, I can speak from an extended experience. 

 Irish cursoria and tritici therefore do not seem to run so nearly 

 into one another as I believe they do elsewhere, neither species 

 showing in Ireland such a range of colour-variation. Some 

 forms of tritici without the costal and other streaks may approach 

 the cursoria pattern, but the ground colour, as well as usually the 

 shape of the wings, sufficiently distinguishes them. I have very 

 rarely seen any of this species with any approach to greyish 

 dusting, a character so strongly developed in some English speci- 

 mens ; nor have I ever met with the ochreous yellowish form. A 

 rich brownish red, approaching the tint of Noctua plecta, some- 

 times occurs. The handsome dark varieties, variously marked, 

 are found with the ordinary forms at Magilligan Point, Co. 

 Derry ; on the shores of L. Swilly, Co. Donegal, and elsewhere, 

 but are scarce. The var. aquilina, formerly classed as a species, 

 is not infrequent in many places. In size I have examples from 

 one and a half inch in expanse to fifteen-sixteenths of an inch, 

 which latter are almost devoid of any markings, a character fre- 

 quently attending dwarfing. As to the characteristic markings 

 of this species, those with a pale costal and longitudinal streaks 

 are much less numerous generally than those without. I possess 

 a few examples of the latter devoid also of the transverse mark- 

 ings. All the forms described by Tutt under letters H. I. K. L. 

 occur, except var. liortorum, St. 



[Ageotis aquilina. — See under tritici.] 



Agkotis obelisca, Hh. — Very local, and decidedly scarce. I 

 have seen none with the greyish coloration of Mr. Hodge's Isle 

 of Wight specimens, and they rarely have such pale and distinct 

 reniform and orbicular stigmata. The ground colour varies 

 from vinous reddish brown to a dull mahogany, and the costa is 

 sometimes ochreous, but occasionally, in the darker specimens, 

 very slightly marked in paler tint of the ground colour. Mr. 

 Birchall remarks that this species haunts the higher parts of 

 Howth, while tritici rarely leaves the level of the sandhills. 

 Besides that locality I have only met with obelisca on the cliffs of 

 Minehead, near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford ; and at Mt. Charles, 

 Donegal. Mr. Campbell's record from near Derry I find to have 

 been a mistake. 



Ageotis agathina, Duj). — The Irish examples of this species 

 are generally large, one and a quarter to one and three-eighths 

 inches, and brightly marked, but very variable in colour and 

 strength of pattern. The lightest I have ever seen is in the 

 collection of Mr. Maurice Fitzgibbon, of Howth. The putty- 



