36 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



with no trace of reddish, thickly sprinkled with black dots ; a longitu- 

 dinal shade, just darker than ground colour, runs just above the inner 

 margin, another between the upper branches of the median nervure, 

 and another near the apex, a black dot at the end of discoidal cell ; hind 

 wings very dark grey, no markings whatever. Guenee, comparing the 

 type with pudorina, says of it : " Larger, of a different colour and shape, 

 at the extremity of the discoidal cell a large black dot, which is wanting 

 in pudorina." This black dot is, however, nearly always present in 

 pudorina ; the females are, as a rule, greyer than the males (Mr. Farren 

 has sent me some almost as grey as Hiibner's type-figure) ; and Mr. 

 Dobree writes me that " impudens from various parts of France and 

 Germany do not differ from English specimens." In this species there 

 is great variation ; some specimens are grey (as in the type), some are 

 bright rosy, some are almost unicolorous ochreous ; whilst others have 

 the dark shades between the nervures developed to such an extent as 

 to form bright and strongly-marked blackish stripes. 



a. var. pudorina, Hb. Hiibner's figure 401 ochreous, sprinkled 

 with reddish represents our usual form of the male, but the form is 

 not uncommon in the female. It has been treated as distinct by 

 Guenee and all our later British authors. The greater number of 

 specimens from Cambridge, the New Forest, Askham Bog and other 

 British localities are of this form, the very grey form being rare. 



ft. var. atriata, Dobree, in litt. " The colour of the anterior wings 

 is a very glossy wainscot-brown rather than ochreous, coarsely pow- 

 dered with black, the wing-rays, and the shading which is faintly 

 perceptible in English specimens, showing out clearly in very dark 

 grey. In size there is no difference. This is a handsome variety from 

 the Amur district, with the colour and markings much intensified." 

 I have never seen this variety, and have to thank Mr. Dobree, who has 

 specimens in his collection, for the above information. I have, how- 

 ever, a specimen lent me by Mr. W. Farren, of Cambridge, with all 

 the spaces between the nervures as thickly powdered with black scales 

 as possible, the wing-rays being dark grey. I should think this speci- 

 men is almost exactly like the Amur specimens. 



y. var. rufescens, mihi. Ground colour of the anterior wings en- 

 tirely bright rosy red, no trace of ochreous, with very pale grey wing- 

 rays ; the wings only very slightly suffused with black scales, except 

 just above the median nervure, where they form a decidedly blackish 

 longitudinal streak ; a small but very distinct black spot at the end of 

 the discoidal cell. Hind wings pale grey, with red fringes. I have 

 again to thank Mr. Farren for the loan of the type of this variety, 

 which is much more extreme than any I had previously seen. Some 

 of the Askham Bog specimens have a tendency to bright rosy. 



Leucania, Och., putrescens, Hb. 



The types of this species are Hiibner's (Geyer's) figs. 730 and 731. 

 These, although presenting the general characteristic markings of 

 putrescens, are so small compared with our British form that they are 

 hardly recognisable. I have seen no Continental specimens, but, if 

 Hiibner's figures are a fair representation of the species as it occurs on 

 the Continent, our form is well worthy of a distinct name. This 



