70 VARIETIES OF NOCTIL33 



nigroque vario." His figure, Plate i., fig. 5 of the same work, shows 

 that Staudinger's summary is exact, and that Guenee is wrong in 

 treating var. intermedia as melaleuca. Newman's description is more 

 like Staudinger's, and his figure (No. 1, p. 288) makes his description 

 clear. Hiibner figures (226) this variety under the type name (con- 

 spicillaris). The description of his figure is as follows : " Costal 

 margin blackish grey, stigmata outlined in reddish, inner margin pale 

 with a pale streak from the costa (near apex) to meet the pale inner 

 margin. Hind wings white with distinct nervures." Guenee's type of 

 this species (conspicillaris) is var. melaleuca ; he writes, ' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 150 : " Superior wings of a greyish-black, with the inner 

 margin and subterminal area of a greyish- white tinted with yellow 

 ochreous ; the first widens after the claviform stigma, which is only 

 indicated as far as the two median stigmata ; the second spotted and 

 interrupted in the middle. Inferior wings white with blackish ner- 

 vures, the inner angle shaded with grey and a blackish lunule better 

 marked below." If this be compared with Newman's fig. 1 (p. 288) 

 it will be seen that they agree. Guenee gives Europe as its habitat. In 

 Kobson & Gardner's list we find : " var. melaleuca, costal and hind 

 margins pale coloured," which is evidently incorrect, as the costa is 

 dark. 



P. var. intermedia, mihi. This is a form intermediate between 

 the pale grey-brown type, and the dark var. melaleuca. It is figured 

 by Newman, ' British Moths,' p. 288, 2nd figure, and described on the 

 same page as : " The dark colour of the anterior wings much more 

 limited (than in melaleuca) ; it occupies the middle of the wing, and 

 leaving a large oblong space at the tip, ascends to the costa between 

 the discoidal spots." It is described by Guenee as melaleuca, ' Noc- 

 tuelles,' vol. v., p. 150, who, comparing it with the dark variety 

 says : " The black colour much less extensive and leaving a large 

 ochreous space, from the reniform almost to the apex. The subter- 

 minal line absent in the clear parts. Stigmata clearly visible and 

 strongly outlined in black." This will be found to agree exactly with 

 Newman's 2nd figure. Guenee says that " although this variety has a 

 very different appearance to the type, it is the same species. One obtains 

 it as abundantly from larvae as the dark form." 



y. var. medio-linea, mihi. Hiibner's figure 237 differs from the 

 type in being browner and having a very distinct dark line extending 

 from the costa to the inner margin passing between the orbicular and 

 reniform stigmata. The description I have made is as follows : 

 "Anterior wings pale brown, with many longitudinal streaks ; orbicular 

 outlined in black ; under the orbicular there is a trace of a basal streak ; a 

 dark transverse line passes between stigmata from costa to inner 

 margin ; reniform absent, several black streaks on outer margin as in 

 var. intermedia ; a slaty shade along the inner margin. Hind wings 

 white with distinct lunule." 



Generalising on these varieties Newman says : " In all three (i.e. 

 the type, var. intermedia and var. melaleuca) varieties, there is a radiated 

 appearance more or less conspicuous on the fore wings, arising from 

 the blackness of the wing rays : the fringe seems always to be dark, 

 and there is a small linear tuft of pale scales at the extremity of each 

 wing-ray : the hind wings are white or whitish, with a pale brown 



