74 VARIETIES OF NOCTU^E 



dark chestnut colour, very glossy, and, as in the case of X. rurea, the 

 intermediate varieties are numerous." 



y. var. infuscata, White. This variety was named by Dr. F. 

 Buchanan White (' Fauna Perthensis,' Part i.). It was given to those 

 very dark specimens, with the ground colour black, which are 

 abundant in Scotland, the North of England and the West of Ireland, 

 but which are so rare in the South of England. The distinctness of 

 the typical pale markings varies exceedingly, but generally they are 

 distinctly marked in greyish. Mr. G. T. Porritt, in his ' List of York- 

 shire Lepidoptera,' p. 74, says : " The black form, var. infuscata, 

 White, is of frequent occurrence, both in the east and west of the 

 county." I have captured it myself at Deal, and have received it 

 from Barnsley, Fleetwood, Hartlepool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Sligo, and 

 many other localities, chiefly northern. A record of the occurrence of 

 this variety at Tenby is made in the 'Entomologist,' xxii., p. 15, and also 

 one of its occurrences at Sheernessby Mr. J.J.Walker, ('Ent. Mo. Mag.,' 

 vol. ix., p. 163). The variety also occurs freely in the Orkneys, Shet- 

 lands and Hebrides. Mr. C. G. Barrett (' Ent. Mo. Mag.,' vol. xxii., p. 

 125) reports it as " occurring near Dublin," and in the same magazine, 

 vol. xxv., p. 259, the Eev. W. F. Johnson writes from Armagh : 

 " I took some very dark (almost black) specimens of Xylophasia mono- 

 glypha.'' 



8. var. cethiops, Stdgr. This is an extreme development of the var. 

 infuscata, White, the whole of the anterior wings intensely black, with 

 no paler markings, and scarcely the slightest trace of any markings 

 whatever ; some specimens are perfectly unicolorous. The most per- 

 fectly unicolorous specimens I have are from Mr. Percy Russ of Sligo, 

 although specimens from the Lancashire coast, Glasgow and Aberdeen, 

 are but little behind them in intensity. 



Xylophasia, St., lithoxylea, F. 



So much uncertainty prevails with regard to the lithoxylea of the 

 ' Vienna Catalogue,' which gives no description, that the lithoxylea of 

 Fabricius (' Mantissa,' p. 182) is generally accepted as the type of the 

 species. This description is as follows : " Noctua cristata alis deflexis 

 dentatis, cinereis fusco maculatis ; margine postico fusco." " Corpus 

 cinereuin. Thorax dorsali brunnea. Alas anticae dentatae cinereas 

 maculis punctisque obsoleteis fuscis. Margo posticus tenuissime fuscus. 

 Subtus cinereaa margine tenuiori nitido. Posticae cinereae margine 

 postico fusco, subtus immaculatas." Hiibner figures the very red form 

 of sublustris as lithoxylea. It is a species which varies but little, so far 

 as I know ; some specimens appear to be a little more suffused with 

 dark scales than others, but generally the paler specimens show 

 undoubted traces of wear. The specimens which I have from Green- 

 wich, Strood, Deal, Sligo, and northern British localities, show no 

 variation worth mentioning. Haworth in his ' Lepidoptera Britan- 

 nica,' p. 169, gives a good description of this species ; but he accepts 

 Hiibner's fig. 240 as this species, with the remark "at magis 

 ferruginea," although it is undoubtedly sublustris. Guenee also states 

 in his ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 139, that " some lepidopterists have sup- 

 posed lithoxylea a variety of polyodon" This will give some idea of the 

 closely-allied character of this group when studied through their varieties. 



