64 VARIETIES OT 



paler, darker nervures and indistinct lunule. This variety is figured, 

 ' Entom.,' xxi., Plate i., fig. 1. I have specimens from Sligo, Strood, 

 Freshwater and Deal. (2)paludis-flavo. Figured, ' Entom.,' xxi., Plate 

 i., fig. 2. Like paludis-albo, but with a yellow reniform instead of white. 

 I have specimens from Sligo, Strood, Shoeburyness, Freshwater and 

 Deal. 



a. var. intermedia, mihi. (1) intermedia-albo. This variety has 

 the ground colour darker ochreous than in paludis, a more distinct dark 

 shade around the reniform, and the ground colour with a slight 

 greenish tint. It is figured, ' Entom.,' xxi., Plate i., fig. 3. I have 

 specimens of this var. and intermedia- flavo, from Shoeburyness, Sligo, 

 Strood, Freshwater (Isle of Wight), and Deal. (2) intermedia- flavo. 

 Like the above, intermedia-albo, but with the reniform yellow instead 

 of white. 



ft. var. brunnea, mihi. (1) brunnea-albo. Anterior wings of a 

 deep brownish ground colour, the dark shade, which in intermedia sur- 

 rounds the reniform, spreading all over the anterior wings, making 

 them almost unicolorous ; the reniform white. (2) var. brunnea-flavo. 

 Like brunnea-albo, buf*with yellow instead of white reniform. My 

 specimens came from Strood and Freshwater (Isle of Wight). 



y. var. grisea, mihi. (1) grisea-albo. The ground colour greyish, 

 darker than paludis and intermedia, with a slight greenish tinge, a pale 

 yellow orbicular and a white reniform, a darker shade enveloping the 

 lower part of the reniform. The pale transverse lines as in paludis and 

 intermedia. The posterior wings darker than in either of these last 

 two varieties. This form is figured, ' Entom.' xxi., Plate i., fig. 4, and 

 I have specimens from Deal and Strood. This and the following are 

 more common in Kent than either var. paludis or var. intermedia. (2) 

 grisea-flavo. Like grisea-albo, but with yellow reniform stigmata 

 instead of white. This form is figured, ' Entom.,' xxi., Plate i., figs. 

 6 & 7, the latter of these two figures having the transverse lines 

 especially strongly marked. My specimens came from Strood, Fresh- 

 water and Deal. 



Hydrcecia, Gn., micacea, Esp. 



This is a most variable species, both in colour and size. The 

 ground colour varies from a pale whitish grey and yellowish red, 

 through bright red and purplish red, to deep brown, with no trace of 

 the typical red colour. In size, some specimens are almost twice the 

 expanse of others. In the autumn of 1883 I bred some four hundred 

 specimens from roots of dock. Previous to this, I had looked on this 

 as a most constant species, and its variation surprised me much. 

 Guenee seems surprised that Sepp figured two different varieties, one 

 of which (figs. 6 and 7) he says is the ordinary French form, the other 

 of " an ashy green colour " (< Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 128). I have never 

 seen one with a green tint. This species has a peculiar shining lustre, 

 hence its name. The type is represented by Esper, PL 145, fig. 6, 

 which I have described as follows : " A dull red ground colour, with 

 two single, fuscous, basal lines, dark greyish or fuscous nervures and 

 costa ; stigmata the same shade as the ground colour, surrounded by a 

 narrow purplish ring, and this again surrounded by black ; between 

 the two basal lines there is a purple shade, and a strong whitish line 



