40 VARIETIES OF NOCTU^E 



side ; h, under side. As, however, none of his figures are named, 

 Hiibner's name and description must stand. His fig. 396 may be 

 described as follows : Anterior wings of a pale wainscot-brown 

 colour, with a dark longitudinal shade under the base of the median 

 nervure, broad, but not reaching to the end of the discoidal cell ; a 

 black dot at the end of the discoidal cell, and four dots are developed 

 of the transverse row parallel to the hind margin, viz., two towards 

 the apex, one just below the outer edge of the median nervure, and 

 one just above the inner margin ; nervures dusky. Posterior wings 

 grey, nervures darker, extreme border spotted. It must be noticed 

 that the peculiar development of the short longitudinal streak under 

 the base of the median nervure is very unusual, and that the posterior 

 wings are much paler than in our specimens. 



a. var. fuligosina, Haw. This is our ordinary form of impura, 

 which, as I have pointed out above, differs from Hiibner's type. 

 " The anterior wings are ochreous, with or without a reddish tinge, 

 with three minute, and often almost obliterated, black dots, placed as in a 

 triangle ; the extreme hind margin marked with very minute black 

 dots ; the nervures white towards the outer margin. The posterior 

 wings fuscous or smoky, with pale cilia, and an indistinct lunule " 

 (Haworth's ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 174). It will be seen that 

 the variety has not the double spot above the median nervure (only 

 one being developed), nor the spot above the inner margin (just 

 beyond the anal angle), which characterise the type, and the hind 

 wings are darker. The Scotch specimens are smaller, with clearer 

 fore wings and darker hind wings than our southern specimens. 



/3. var. punctina, Haw. This is the red form of impura. " The 

 anterior wings are entirely red, with nervures distinctly marked, the 

 extreme hind margins with fuscous dots ; the hind wings pale grey, 

 with a broad cinereous patch at the anal angle " (Haworth's Lepidop- 

 tera Britannica,' p. 174). The hind margin is, in some of the red 

 varieties, unspotted, and the posterior wings are often very dark. I 

 have a fine series of this rufescent form, obtained from the marshes in 

 this neighbourhood a few years ago. Haworth described punctina 

 from only two specimens. 



y. var. punctilinea, mihi. The anterior wings reddish-ochreous, 

 much suffused with dark scales ; the row of spots parellel to the hind 

 ma/gin well developed, forming an almost continuous row, commenc- 

 ing on the costa and ending on the inner margin ; a dark shade under 

 the pale median nervure. The posterior wings very much suffused, 

 and very dark ; in some specimens almost black. I have a few 

 specimens of this variety, showing the extreme variation in the 

 development of these dots, captured on Greenwich Marshes in 1883 ; 

 but such forms are rare. 



Leucania, Och., pattens, L. 



The type of L. pollens has a pale ochreous ground colour, with 

 paler wing-rays, and one or two black spots. There are generally 

 three black dots one in the centre of the wing at the end of the 

 discoidal cell, the other two being beyond the centre, and situated one 

 directly above the other, immediately below the median nervure, and 

 being a portion of that row, parallel with the hind margin, which is 



