IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 71 



discoidal spot, margin, and wing-rays ; the fringe is white ; the head 

 and thorax are grey, the latter decorated with a dark discoidal blotch 

 and darker borders, especially on the sides ; the body is obese, crested 

 at the base, and squarely truncate at the extremity : its colour is 

 greyish brown" (' British Moths,' p. 288). 



Xylophasia, St., zollikoferi, Frey. 



I have been reminded by Mr. Dobree that I ought scarcely to 

 pass this rare species which has been twice captured in Britain ; one 

 in the beginning of October, 1867, by Mr. Harding of Deal, the other 

 by Mr. Tait, at Inverurie, a few miles from Aberdeen, in September, 

 1871. The former specimen is in the Doubleday collection at the 

 Bethnal Green Museum, the other is, I believe, still in the possession 

 of Mr. Tait. The notice of the first capture, as recorded in the 

 ' Entomologist,' vol. v., pp. 29, 30, is by Mr. Doubleday, and is as 

 follows : " The beginning of October, 1867, Mr. Harding took a 

 large NOCTUA at Deal, which was unknown to me, but which I thought 

 might be X. zollikoferi, from M. Guenee's remark that some authors 

 had placed this insect in the genus Nonagria, and Mr. Harding's moth 

 certainly resembles a female N. typhce in colour and markings. A 

 short time since I sent it to Dr. Staudinger, and he says it is X. 

 zollikoferi var. This species is principally found in Hungary and 

 Eussia, but is not common anywhere." The notice of the second 

 capture may be found in the ' Scottish Naturalist,' vol. i., pp. 267, 268, 

 with a very full description by Dr. F. Buchanan White. The type 

 of this species is represented by Freyer in his ' Neuere Beitrage,' &c., 

 pi. 184, figs. 1 & 2. Fig. 1 is a male, the " anterior wings of a dull 

 smoky brown colour, with the basal part of the inner margin paler, 

 the nervures of the same dark colour as the other part of the wing ; 

 a short, black, longitudinal, basal line just under the median nervure ; 

 the claviform distinctly outlined in black, but only the slightest traces 

 of the other stigmata ; a row (8) of longitudinal black dots on the 

 nervures just beyond the reniform area ; a faint greyish line parallel 

 to hind margin just outside the dots. Hind wings pale grey, with 

 darker outer margin, dusky nervures, and dusky lunule." Fig. 2 is a 

 female. It is like fig. 1, but "the basal and median areas pale greyish 

 brown, extending from the inner margin to costa, followed by the 

 dull, dark smoky brown colour of the male on the outer area (beyond 

 the reniform) ; basal streak, row of black dots and grey line as in 

 male, but no stigmata. Hind wings much darker than in male, dark 

 smoky brown as in anterior wings, base a little paler." Herrich- 

 Schaffer's two figures, ' Schmet. von Europa,' &c., figs. 103 and 104, 

 also represent dark specimens ; fig. 103 approaching more nearly to 

 the British specimens. Strange to say, both the British specimens are 

 strikingly pale, the Inverurie specimen being paler than the specimen 

 captured at Deal. Of this variation Dr. White, quoting Mr. H. 

 Doubleday, writes : " ' This (the Inverurie specimen) is a very pale 

 variety. My specimen (the Deal one) is thickly irrorated with black 

 along the nervures, and very closely resembles in appearance a female 

 N. typJioR. I sent my specimen to Dr. Staudinger, and he said it agreed 

 exactly with a specimen in his cabinet which was captured in 

 Hungary. He added that it was one of the rarest of the European 



