IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 23 



fuscis : strigis characteribus nigris, pedibus, apice albo annulatis." 

 "Nimis affinis N. psi at omnia obscuriora. Ake posticse albidioris. 

 Pedes albidi apice fusci albo annulati " (' Mantissa,' p. 174, No. 256). 

 The minor forms of variation noticeable in the allied species are also 

 present in this. Haworth's varieties, menyanthidis and similis differ but 

 little from the type ; Hiibner's pepli is darker and rather more 

 unicolorous. 



a. var. similis, Haw. In this variety the wings are more ashy in 

 colour, with a slightly waved line before the middle of the anterior 

 wings ; another short oblique line is in the centre of the wing, and a 

 third pale one at the apex. Haworth's description is as follows : 

 " Noctua alis cinereis, striga subundata atra ante medium, alia fusca 

 obliqua abbreviata medio, tertiaque cana submoniliformi, limbi postici : 

 posticis albidis fimbria subfusca." Comparing it with the following, 

 var. menyanthidis, he writes : " Prsecedenti (var. menyanthidis) nimis 

 affinis, sed magis cinerea seu infuscata ; striga ante medium anticarum 

 simplex et longissime saturatior pone maculam cuneiformem obscuram 

 fuscam cinereo-cinctam. Margo posticus distincte notatus striga sub- 

 moniliformi albida sive cana. Striga postica anguste dentata, litera ^ 

 terminante prioris, fere omnino obliterata. Postica alse magis distincte 

 subfusco fimbriatse " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 180, No. 57). 



/3. var. menyanthidis, Haw. (iion Hb.). This variety of auricoma 

 must not be confounded with the northern species of the same name. 

 The great character of this variety is the increased development of 

 the i/'-like mark. I have taken this form with the type at Addlestone, 

 in Surrey, and have no doubt it occurs everywhere where the type 

 may be obtained. Haworth's description (' Lepidoptera Britannica, 

 p. 180) is as follows : " alis cano-cinereis stigmatibus ordinariis dis- 

 tinctis, striga* duplici fusca antica, alteraque postica anguste dentata 

 cinerea literam \f/ terminante." Comparing it with auricoma he 

 writes : "Auricoma, simillima, at pallidior : alis posticis nee subfuscis 

 sed fere albidis venis postice fuscis ciliis niveis. Linea nigra basi anti- 

 carum obsoletior, simplex, nee dentata." 



y. var. pepli, Hb., Gn. Dr. Staudinger gives this as a probable 

 variety of auricoma, with the description, " obscurior, magis unicolor." 

 Guenee describes it without a mark of doubt, as follows: "The 

 ground colour of a more bluish grey, and at the same time more 

 sprinkled with black dots, which make the marking less distinct. 

 The inferior wings of the male are whitish in the middle. Fringe 

 spotted." He gives as localities Germany and Normandy. It appears 

 to me, after a careful consideration of Hiibner's fig. 614, to belong 

 " here. The great character of the variety seems to me to be the 

 complete absence of the ^-like mark. 



Acronycta, Och. (Viminia, Chapman), menyanthidis, Vw. 



Vieweg's diagnosis of this species is as follows : " Noctua meny- 

 anthidis alis deflexis canis fusco nebulosis, annulo medio charactere ^ 

 referente anguli postici nigris " (' Tabellarisches Verzeichniss ' &c., 

 p. 50, No. 75). This species is very variable both in ground colour 

 and markings. Some specimens are of a pale whitish-grey, scarcely 

 clouded with darker, and with the transverse lines and stigmata almost 

 obsolete, while others are much darker, sprinkled with black scales, 



