IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 31 



nularum fuscarum." "Corpus cinereum. Alee anticse cinereee, 

 interdum parum rufescentes strigis duabus e lunulis interruptis fuscis. 

 Inter has striga lunula albida " ('Mantissa,' p. 178, No. 275). As in 

 the closely allied Hikargyria, there are two distinct shades of colour, 

 one bright red, the other much greyer, sometimes slightly tinted with 

 reddish (the type) but occasionally without (var. grisea). Of the few 

 specimens I have captured on the south-east coast (Kent), most are of 

 the type, and a form intermediate between the type and the brightest 

 red form. There is practically no variation in the tiny round white 

 dot at the base of the reniform. 



a. var. rufa, mihi. Of a much deeper red ground-colour than the 

 type, the characteristic white mark in the reniform standing out very 

 distinctly. There is considerable difference in the intensity of colour 

 in these red forms. Appears to be a much rarer form than the type. 

 I have only one extreme specimen in my collection, although three 

 others are of a much brighter red than the type, and may be referred 

 to this variety. 



/3. var. suffusa, mihi. With the same markings as the type, 

 but with the ground-colour much more suffused with dark scales. 



y. var. grisea, mihi. Without the reddish tinge of the type, the 

 anterior wings being of a uniform dull grey. The stigmata and 

 transverse lines as in the type. 



Leucania, Och., lithargyria, Esp. 



This species varies much in ground colour, and its varieties are 

 difficult to deal with on account of the difference existing between our 

 specimens and Continental ones, and the fact that Haworth considered 

 the different shades of the species sexual, the pale ones being males, 

 the dark red ones females, whereas both forms occur in both sexes. 

 The typical Continental lithargyria, is an intermediate pale greyish-red 

 form, which is figured by Hiibner (fig. 225) and by Esper (plate 124, 

 fig. 6). Esper's figure is of a pale reddish colour, with darker ner- 

 vures, and reniform pale in lower half, with a row of dots parallel to 

 the hind margin. This form is Haworth's grisea. Our palest form 

 (without red) is, in its most extreme form, var. argyritis of the ' Rambur 

 Catalogue': our reddest forms are theferrago of Fabricius f217). The 

 transverse markings, too, vary a great deal. Some specimens have 

 only a row of dots parallel to the hind margin, with no other marks. 

 Haworth says, " Alse fere unicolores." Some have a transverse basal 

 line, and some even two, or indications of them, between the reniform 

 and base of the wings ; whilst others have, in addition, a transverse 

 line between the reniform and the row of dots ; but this latter form is 

 rarely met with. This line is an extreme development of the inner of 

 the two rows of dots present in the type. Mr. Lawson, of Perth, sent 

 me some with all these lines indicated, but the only specimen I have, 

 with a distinct and complete basal line and a distinct and complete 

 line between the reniform and row of dots, was captured by Mr. 

 Ovenden near Strood. Mr. Dobree writes me: "In some of the 

 specimens taken here (Beverley, E. Yorkshire) the tendency to a darker 

 shade on the hind margin of the upper wings is very pronounced." 



a. var. argyritis, Ebr. Cat. The anterior wings of this variety are 



