IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 69 



lignosa would be, " Anterior wings with the ground colour of a yellow 

 ochreous shade, with a black basal streak, the orbicular and reniforin 

 outlined in black ; a double transverse line of dots beyond the reniform ; 

 the median nervure continued through the wings as a dusky shade ; 

 a broad black costal streak runs along from the base of the costa to 

 the apex where it ends ; two short dusky shades are placed in the 

 upper part of the outer margin. Hind wings grey, with the outer 

 margin slightly ochreous." Newman's figure, ' British Moths,' p. 282, 

 is much too dark for the type, and apparently belongs to this variety. 



(?) /3. var. sicca, Gn. Guenee describes a species under the name 

 of sicca as follows : " A little smaller than putris, the superior wings 

 of which species those of sicca much resemble, if it were not that the 

 costal streak is more black than brown, above all between the two 

 stigmata, where they form a distinct black spot. Inferior wings 

 entirely pure white. Head, thorax and palpi, pale yellow. I have 

 only a single male of which I am ignorant of its locality 1 ' (' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 135). The pure white hind wings leave me in doubt as to 

 the specimen being a variety of this species. 



Xylomiges, Gn., conspicillaris, L. 



Linnaeus' conspicillaris (' Systema Naturae,' Edition 10, p. 515, No. 

 102) is the type, and is described as : "Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alis 

 incumbenti planis: pallide griseis, oculorum operculis orbiculatis." 

 " Alae inferiores subtus albidae, pone punctum fascia obsoleta e punctis 

 distinctis, praeter ilia quse alas terminant." Haworth, in the ' Lepi- 

 doptera Britannica,' p. 171, describes this species as : " alis striatis, 

 fusco cinereoque variis, marginem tenuiorem versus albicantibus." 

 " Alter sexus ( ) saturation" Guenee, in his 'Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 

 150, writes : " This is not the conspicillaris of Linnaeus," but I fail to 

 see anything in his argument which would convince anyone that it is 

 not so. Newman, in his ' British Moths,' p. 288, figures three varieties, 

 and on the same page, after describing the pale Linnasan type, writes : 

 " Although this description will do very well for the more usual form 

 of the species, it seems desirable to say that the distribution of colour 

 in the fore-wings is excessively various. Three marked varieties 

 occur in the series of continental specimens kindly lent me by Mr. 

 Doubleday." He then describes the three varieties. The first is the 

 var. melaleucd (top figure in Newman) ; the second var. intermedia (2nd 

 fig. in Newman) ; the third is the type (bottom figure in Newman). 

 Staudinger writes in his ' Catalog.' : " type al. ant. brunneis-griseis." 

 Guenee describes var. melaleuca as the type ; his melaleucd is var. inter- 

 media ; while his var. B is the Linnsean type, which he says is the 

 least common form in France, (vide ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., pp. 150 

 151). Hiibner figures (237) a brown form as well as var. melaleucd 

 (23 6) under the name of conspicillaris. Taking therefore the pale form 

 as the type we have the following varieties : 



a. var. melaleuca, View. The type of this variety is obtained from 

 Yieweg's ' Tabellarisches Verzeichniss/ &c., p. 68, and according to 

 Guenee, No. 105, pi. 1, fig. 5. Of this variety Staudinger says: "al. 

 ant. nigricant. ; dorso et margino post, albido." Vieweg's own descrip- 

 tion, p. 69, No. 105, is as follows : " Noctua cristata alis deflexis 

 anticis nigris, margine tenuiore lituraque postica albis : thorace albo 



