30 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



says : It varies in ground colour from a pale yellow to a strong 

 yellowish red, and the markings are more or less clear, following the 

 intensity of the ground colour. I have specimens from Algeria which 

 do not differ from French examples." A good many specimens occur 

 in British collections, but the insect is a south European one, and 

 rarely occurs even in the north of France and Germany. The species 

 is, however, occasionally captured in the Isle of Wight, where many 

 species, having a close connection with the Mediterranean littoral, are 

 to be found. 



Leucania, Och., conigera, F. 



This species varies very much in ground colour from a bright 

 yellowish-orange, through ferruginous red, to a deep dusky red much 

 sprinkled with black scales. The continental forms appear to closely 

 resemble our brighter specimens, but I have seen none approaching 

 the more melanic forms which we occasionally obtain in England, 

 and which are very frequent on the west coast of Ireland. There is 

 a certain amount of variation in the size and shape of the central white 

 dot. The diagnosis of Fabricius, taken from Borkhaiisen, is : " Cristata, 

 alis, deflexis flavescentibus, strigis duabus fuscis, punctoque medio albo 

 trigono." Hiibner's figure (322) is a good one of the typical insect as 

 far as the upper wings are concerned, but the posterior wings are 

 coloured bluish, and have a dark margin. 



a. var. intermedia, mihi. Differs from the type in being of a 

 redder ground colour, and is not suffused so much with black scales as 

 the more melanic var. suffusa. This appears to be the most common 

 form of the species, and to occur in the same localities as the type. 



/3. var. flavipnnctum, mihi. I have a specimen of this species 

 taken at Strood, of a reddish ground colour, with the ordinary 

 characteristic white spot ochreous. 



y. var. suffusa, mihi. The ground colour of the anterior wings of 

 a dusky ferruginous-red, without any trace of the brighter yellowish 

 ground colour of the type, the whole being much suffused with darker 

 scales ; the markings exactly like those of the type, but of a deeper 

 colour and more distinct, especially the stigmata ; a very dark shade 

 surrounds the reniform, extending to the orbicular ; the costa shaded 

 with dark scales, the wing-rays also dark. The hind wings of a very 

 dark smoky-grey colour in both sexes, bearing more or less traces of a 

 still darker transverse line. I have this melanic form from Morpeth, 

 Hartlepool and Sligo. My conigera from Dundee are as bright as the 

 specimens captured in Chattenden, Strood, Deal, and other Kentish 

 localities. Brightly-coloured specimens are, however, captured at 

 Sligo with the darker forms. 



8. A remarkable abortion of L. conigera is figured in the ' Ento- 

 mologist,' vol. xi., and described at p. 171 as follows : " This insect 

 has the normal coloration of the upper wings, but the left lower wing 

 is, both in colour and structure, partly like the upper wings, and also 

 has one white spot in the centre." 



Leucania, Och., albipuncta, Fab. 



This rare British species is thus described by Fabricius : " Noctua 

 cristata alis deflexis cinereis lunula media alba, strigisque duabus lu- 



