14 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



that Esper's candelisequa = infuscata, Haw., but this is an error. 

 Ha worth's aceris is our ordinary British form (tinged with ochreous). 

 Taking the pale grey form as the type, we have the following varieties : 



a. var. candelisequa, Esp. Esper's diagnosis (p. 39) of this variety 

 is : " Alis deflexis cinereis, stigmate orbiculari, striis maculisque oblite 

 eratis nigris, margine antico albo punctato, stria media angulari mar- 

 gineque postico albidis ; venis nigris subtus, puncto in medio et fascia 

 nigricante." Although this is so distinct, both Guenee and Staudinger 

 refer it to var. infuscata, Haw., and Guende writes " more yellow " 

 which is undoubtedly incorrect of this variety. Staudinger simply 

 -writes " obscurior." I have fallen into the same error as Guenee in 

 the ' Entomologist,' vol. xxi., p. 52, where the description, &c., belong 

 to Haworth's infuscata. 



/?. var. infuscata, Haw. This is described by Haworth as : 

 " Abdomine alisque anticis fuscis, striga postica dentata albicante." 

 " PraBcedentis (aceris) forte varietas, at constans : differt thorace uni- 

 formiter perfusco, nee pallide cinereo : abdomine fusco, pube longa alba, 

 numquam pallide cinereo. Ala3 anticse ommno fuscas, strigis, lineolis, 

 punctisque prsecedentis : ala3 posticse ut in ilia." He then describes a 

 variety of this as : " Alse longe saturatioribus striga postica cinerea 

 vix dentata, sed quasi ex maculis conjunctis rhombeis composita. Forte 

 propria species." I would include under this varietal name all those 

 suffused forms, in which the suffusion consists of brown or ochreous 

 scales. This was considered a distinct species by our early lepidopter- 

 ists. Newman figured it in ' British Moths,' p. 251 (2nd figure). 



y. var. intermedia, mihi. = candelisequa, Gn. This is our common 

 British form of which Guenee says : " Superior wings dark, of a more 

 yellow (or ochreous) tint, with the lines and stigmata more distinct " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 48). Like so many other species, this is, in 

 its palest British forms, darker than the majority of Continental 

 specimens. 



Acronycta, Och. (Cuspidia. Chapman), leporina, L. 



The diagnosis of LinnaBus points to the white form as the type of 

 this species. It is : " Noctua spirilinguis Isevis, alis deflexis albis ; 

 punctis nigris ramosis " (' Fauna Suecicae,' No. 1176). A large pro- 

 portion of our British specimens are the bradyporina of Treitschke, a 

 grey form, which I have received from York, Essex, and also from 

 Dr. Buckell, who bred his specimens from New Forest larvse, although 

 the Rev. Bernard Smith writing to me from Mar low, Bucks, said : 

 " All our specimens are quite white, veritable millers," so that these 

 forms appear to become local races in different localities. A beautiful 

 rosy tint is present in some specimens ; occasionally the outer part of 

 the wing assumes a banded appearance, being, as it were, an inter- 

 mediate form between the type and bradyporina. 



a. var. bradyporina, Tr. Treitschke's diagnosis of this variety 

 is : "Acronycta alis albidis anticis fusco irroratis, punctis nigris 

 ramosis " (' Die Schmet,' &c., p. 91). This variety was treated by our 

 early lepidopterists as a distinct species. It is very much suffused, and 

 has scarcely any trace of the white colour which characterises the 

 type, the colour of the anterior wings being of a dark uniform grey. 



