THE ANNULET. 319 



The Annulet {GnopJws (^Sciadion) ohscnratd). 



In a general way, all the grey specimens of this species are 

 referable to the type form obscurata^ Schiffermiiller ; the true 

 type, however, appears to be rare in Britain, even if it occurs 

 at all. It is, perhaps, best represented by well-marked dark 

 specimens from limestone districts, or the lighter ones from 

 peaty ground. At Folkestone and in other chalky localities 

 on the Kentish coast, the bulk of the specimens are pale grey 

 inclining to whitish, usually with the black cross lines showing 

 more or less clearly. Sometimes the lines are obscured by heavy 

 freckling (ab. woodiata^ Prout) ; not infrequently, at Folkestone 

 chiefly, the inner and outer areas are pale, more or less free of 

 freckling, but the central area, defined by black lines, is densely 

 freckled ; this is the banded form {sih.fasciafa, Prout). A form 

 occurs on the chalk hills at Lewes in Sussex, in which the wings 

 are almost white, without freckling, but with distinct black lines 

 and rings (ab. calceata^ Staudinger) ; a modification of this 

 whitish form from Lewes has been described by Prout as ab. 

 mimdata., "Almost pure whitish, with virtually no markings, 

 excepting the annulets." On heaths in Surrey and Hampshire, 

 and on the mountains of Aberdeen and Perthshire, a blackish 

 form occurs (ab. obsatriorata^ Prout = obscuraria, Hiibner, 146) ; 

 and sometimes specimens are found in which the wings are of 

 " an intense and almost uniform black " (ab. satiirata, Prout). 

 In Devonshire and Cornwall, the species is darkish grey in- 

 clining to brownish (ab. anthracinaria^ Esper) ; whilst on the 

 coasts of North Devon and Wales it is of a slaty grey, more or 

 less tinged with brown, and almost without markings ; the 

 Welsh specimens are large, and the wings are rather shining 

 (ab. u?nformata, Prout). A form, which I have not seen, of " a 

 sandy or reddish colour" is referred by Prout {Trans. City of 

 Lond. Efil. Soc.^ 1903, ?• 39) to d^.argillacearia^ Staudinger; it 



