44 VARIETIES OF NOCTU^E 



Uralensium pratis " (< Fauna Volgo-Uralensis,' p. 270, No. 15). The 

 type of this species is described by Staudinger as " pale, greyish or 

 reddish straw-colour." Guenee's var. A. is undoubtedly the type, he 

 describes it as " less red, more powdered with grey, reniform stigma 

 more yellowish than red; inferior wings darker" (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., 

 pp. 104, 105). 



a. var. saturata, Stdgr. This is a dark reddish variety. Staud- 

 inger says of it : " Obscurior, alis anterioribus ssepius totis runs." 

 Newman, in his ' British Moths,' p. 275, has described apparently 

 only the red form. Guenee also treats this form as his type. 

 The two forms occur in the same localities and appear equally common. 



Tapinostola, Ld., fulva, Hb. 



The type of this species is represented by Hiibner's fig. 496, which 

 has the anterior wings and fringes of a bright red, with dark nervures, 

 and a row of black dots, one on each ray, parallel to the hind margin. 

 Hind wings dark grey with pale fringes, and no spots. Dr. Staudinger 

 describes it as " alis anterioribus totis f ulvis." With regard to the 

 vars. of fulva from Pitcaple, Aberdeenshire, Mr. Keid writes: "(1). 

 Pale yellowish-white, almost white, with no dark mark. (2). Colour 

 as in 1, but with a dark dash from near the base almost to the outer 

 margin, with many scattered dark scales. (3). Brown, with and with- 

 out dash. (4). Dark brown, with and without longitudinal dashes. 

 (5). Blackish-brown, unicolorous. I have also seen them with a red- 

 dish or pinkish tinge, but not the same as the beautiful red form near 

 Glasgow." I have never seen these last forms (3, 4 and 5), and hence can- 

 not deal with them, but they must be most interesting. The specimens I 

 have in my collection prove that this is a most variable species, the 

 ground colour going thro ugh every gradation, from bone- white, ochreous, 

 reddish, to deep brick-red. I have received large, beautiful, and 

 characteristic specimens of the type from only two localities, Ballycastle 

 in Ireland and Warrington. The large Warrington specimens are per- 

 haps slightly excelled in richness of colour by the Irish specimens. 

 The type does not appear to occur in Scotland, unless some of those 

 mentioned by Mr. Keid are to be referred to it, but I think not, although 

 some of the Scotch specimens from Eannoch, somewhat approach it. 

 With regard to the row of dots paralled to the hind margin, there 

 is every form of development between a complete row and total absence. 

 It is therefore useless as a character for subdivision. In every colour, 

 too, there are specimens with and without dark longitudinal shades 

 along the nervures. I have therefore added suffusa to the varietal 

 names to represent these darker forms. The hind wings exhibit slight 

 differences in shade, from pale grey in var. concolor, to blackish-grey 

 in var. fluxa. The following appears to be the most complete summary 

 I am able to make with the material at my disposal : 

 1. A whitish form, with or without transverse row of dots, with or 



without longitudinal shade = concolor, Tutt, Gn. (?). 

 2. A bright yellow-ochreous form, without longitudinal shades = var. 



ochracea. 

 2A. A bright yellow-ochreous form, with longitudinal shades = var. 



ochracea-suffusa. 



