38 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



mentioned above, Hiibner figures this form (fig. 617) under the name 

 of turbida. Mr. Finlay, of Morpeth, gave me a specimen of this 

 variety with a strongly-marked black lineola above the median nervure 

 in the discoidal cell, and another short one quite at the base of the 

 inner margin. 



/?. var. ochracea, mihi. A bright brownish-ochreous form, with a 

 tinge of reddish in the ground colour ; the black lineola and streaks 

 between the nervures standing out very conspicuously. 



y. var. nigropuncta, mihi. There is also a constant form of varia- 

 tion, equally distributed through the paler type, vars. sujfusa and 

 ochracea, with a distinct small black dot at the end of the discoidal cell. 

 Such a variety would constitute the var. nigropuncta. 

 Leucania, Och., obsoleta, Hb. 



The type of this species is Hiibner 's fig. 233, which gives a very 

 incorrect idea of the form we get, and an equally incorrect one of all 

 Continental specimens I have seen. The anterior wings are of a 

 different shape to those of our obsoleta, and it is highly coloured. The 

 row of dots parallel to the hind margin is, however, distinctly 

 marked. My first impression of the figure was that the fore wing 

 represented the var. punctilinea of impura, but the hind wings are 

 characteristic of obsoleta, which cannot be mistaken for those of any 

 other species. Hiibner's figure is of a "bright reddish wainscot colour, 

 with a pale trifid longitudinal mark along the median nervure, a row 

 of dots parallel to the hind margin." I have specimens of a dull red 

 colour (the nearest approach to the type), but in a moderately long 

 series of specimens, which I obtained in North Kent, there are no 

 specimens so bright as Hiibner's figure. In some specimens the reddish 

 wainscot ground colour is longitudinally striated with black, and these 

 form an almost parallel variety to straminea var. nigrostriata. 



a. var. nigrostriata, mihi. Anterior wings of a reddish wainscot 

 colour, which shows distinctly along the pale nervures ; a pale central 

 longitudinal line under median nervure and a row of black dots 

 parallel to hind margin ; the space between the pale nervures filled up 

 with numerous black scales giving the insect a dark, striated appear- 

 ance. Hind wings dark grey, hind margin darker, nervures black. 



/3. var. grisea, mihi. Somewhat like the preceding var. but with 

 the ground colour pale grey and no trace of reddish. The spaces 

 between the nervures less strongly dusted with black scales than in 

 nigrostriata. 



Leucania, Och., straminea, Tr. 



The type of this species is described by Treitschke as : " Alis 

 anticis pallide stramineis, punctis tribus medio pluribus ad marginem 

 in seriem dispositis nigris ; posticis albis fusco venosis " (Treitschke, 

 * Die Schmet. von Europa,' vol. v., p. 297). This typical form with 

 only " three dots on the anterior wings, besides the row of minute dots 

 on the extreme hind margin, and with white hind wings and fuscous 

 nervures," is not at all a common form with us. Generally there are 

 slight traces of a more or less complete transverse row of dots on the 

 nervures of the hind wings, besides which a dark longitudinal streak 

 is found under the median nervure of the anterior wings. In 1883 

 and 1884, I took a large number of this species in North Kent, and I 



