IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 79 



tinctly intermediate between var. ochrea, and var. flavorufa. It has 

 all the distinct markings of ochrea, but the reddish ground colour of 

 flavorufa. This form occurs with the type, but appears to be rare. I 

 have seen but few specimens, and am indebted for those I have to 

 Messrs. Eose and Harrison of Barnsley, and Mr. Boult of Hull. It 

 is recorded from Derby by Mr. Hill, in the ' Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine/ vol. xxiii., p. 6. This is the var. B of Guenee's ' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 138, but it is uncertain whether it is the La Bigarree, of 

 Engramelle. Guenee says of his var. B: ' All the markings 

 reappear, even the ordinary lines which are obliterated in the type. 

 The ground colour is reddish-brown, mixed with yellow-ochreous and 

 whitish." In Humphrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' vol. i., p. 

 159, we find : " Varieties occur, with the ground colour of the fore 

 wings bright ochre-red, with the stigmata distinct." 



8. var. flavorufa, mihi. The ground colour of a dull yellowish- 

 red tint, and so far resembling var. intermedia, but the typical markings 

 almost entirely obsolete and lost in the ground colour. Both stigmata 

 very distinct and outlined in yellow ; some short yellow dashes along 

 the costa (the remaining parts of the obsolete line) ; a yellow patch at 

 the costal base, and a few yellow scales on the outer part of the other- 

 wise dusky nervures, are the only markings on the anterior wings of 

 this otherwise unicolorous variety. My specimens have come from 

 Kannoch, Barnsley, Glasgow and Kipon. 



. var. putris, Hb. The putris of Hb., fig. 241, is without doubt a 

 var. of rurea. It may be described as, " Anterior wings of a pale brown- 

 ish grey, base paler, with a much waved, transverse, basal line ; a 

 longitudinal pale orbicular, and a renif orm outlined in pale ; a distinct 

 transverse black wavy line beyond the reniform. Between this and 

 the basal line the colour is dark brown, a black line passing through 

 this darker part between the stigmata, from costa to inner margin. A 

 row of dots parallel to the hind margin ; extreme hind margin dotted ; 

 hind wings dark grey, base paler, dark transverse line and dark lunule.' 

 This description of Hiibner's figure satisfies precisely the description of 

 some of the beautiful forms brought by Mr. Salvage from the Isle of 

 Lewis in 1887. From a figure kindly lent me by Mr. Mosley, of 

 Huddersfield, this would appear to be the var. borealis mentioned 

 by Mr. Porritt in his ' List of Yorkshire Lepidoptera,' p. 73, where he 

 says : " Mr. S. L. Mosley says the varieties alopecurus, Esp., and 

 borealis, also occasionally occur at Huddersfield." With reference to 

 this var. borealis, Mr. Mosley, in September '88, wrote : " I only 

 know the variety borealis, by Mr. Bond having pointed out one in his 

 cabinet with the remark, ' That is var. borealis ! ' I took one like his 

 specimen here, of which I send you a drawing." This drawing repre- 

 sented without doubt Hiibner's putris. In Humphrey and Westwood's 

 ' British Moths,' vol i., p. 159, there is a remark about borealis as fol- 

 lows : " As Mr. Curtis gives the putris of Hiibner as probably identical 

 with his Xylina borealis, and as Boisduval gives putris as a variety of 

 rurea, Mr. Curtis's insect is, probably a variety of this species." Of 

 this, I think, there is now no doubt. I have only seen British speci- 

 mens of this var. from Lewis, but Mr. Mosley's figure proves it to occur 

 at Huddersfield. 



f. var. combusta, Haw. Haworth's description of this variety is as 



