POLIA. Ill 



Noctua nitens, Haw. Lep. Brit. p. 188 (1800) ; Stepb. 111. Erit. Ent., Haust. 



iii. p. 28. 

 Noctua unicolor, Tutt, Brit. ]S^oct. iii. p. 71 (1892). 



Head and thorax red-brown mixed with grey ; tegulse with black 

 medial line ; patagia with some dark scales near npper edge ; tarsi 

 with pale rings ; abdomen pale reddish brown. Fore wing red- 

 brown, more or less completely suffused with purplish grey, leaving 

 some red in and beyond end of cell ; subbasal line double, waved, 

 from costa to submedian fold ; antemedial line double, waved ; 

 claviform minuta or well-developed, defined by brown ; orbicular 

 and reniform large, greyish defined by black, the former round, 

 the latter more or less angled inwards on median nervure and with 

 some whitish on lower part of annulus ; medial line indistinct, 

 waved, angled outwards to lower angle of cell ; postmedial line 

 double, dentate, and produced to grey and black points on the veins, 

 bent outwards below costa, slightly incurved at discal fold, 

 incurved below vein 4, some white points beyond it on costa ; 

 subtermiual line pale, strongly defined by dark brown on inner side, 

 sometimes forming dentate marks especially in submedian fold, 

 angled outwards at vein 7, slightly dentate at veins 4, 3, and 

 strongly angled inwards in submedian fold ; a terminal series of 

 small black lunules. Hind wing pale ochreous brown towards base, 

 the terminal half suffused with fuscous ; cilia whitish ; the under- 

 side pale, the costal and terminal areas irrorated with brown, a 

 small discoidal spot and diffused subtermiual band. 



Ab. 1. unicolor. Uniform reddish. 



Hah. Britain, Leech Coll ; Feance, Sand Coll. ; Germany, 

 Zeller & Frey Colls. ; X. Italy ; Russia, Livonia, Zeller Coll., 

 Urals; Armenia ; W. Turkestan, Ala Tau, Issyk-kul ; E. Turkestan, 

 Hi ; Siberia ; Amurland. Exp. 46-64 millim. 



Larva. Meyr. Brit. Lep. p. 85 ; Barrett, Lep. Brit. iv. p. 1.5G, pi. 154 f. 1. 



Pale brown ; sides darker, freckled with grey ; dorsal line pale, 

 brown-edged : spiracles bright red-brown, black-edged. Food- 

 plants : Sonchus, Achillea, Polygonum, etc. 8-4. 



1281. Poliatincta. 



Kcctua tincta, Brabm, Ins. Kal. ii. p. 393 (1791) ; Dup. Lep. Fr. vi. p. 389, 

 pi. 96. f. 3 ; Steph. 111. Brit. Eut., Haust. iii. p. 29 ; Staud. Cat. Lep. 

 pal. p. 155. 



Nocfua fiimaatlosa, Esp. Schmett. iv. pi. 131. f. 5 (1788). 



Noctiia argentina, Haw. Lep. Brit. p. 186 (1809). 



Noctua hepatica, Hiibn. Eur. Scbmett., Noet. f. 77 (1827). 



Mamestra obscurata, Staud. Iris, x. p. 335 (1897). 



Head and thorax white mixed with brown, thorax with some 

 rufous on dorsum ; frons with black bar ; tegulte with black line 

 at tips ; patagia edged with black : tarsi black ringed with white ; 

 abdomen grey tinged with reddish brown. Fore wing silvery grey 

 suffused with purplish brown especially on medial area ; the lines 

 double, filled in with whitish ; the subbasal line waved from costa to 



