80 VAKIETIES OP NOCTU^E 



follows : " Alis fusco-brunneis obsolete nebulosis, figura 3 vel 5 medio 

 notatis." " In medio anticarum alarum stigmata ordinaria obsoleta, 

 albido marginata, anticum ovale antrorsum valde inclinante ; exterius 

 auriforme margine albo interrupto et inde representat figuram 3 vel 5. 

 Posticse alas fuscse ciliis subflavicantibus." This variety is generally 

 considered as synonymous with alopecurus, Esper, by Continental 

 authors ; but Newman, in his l British Moths,' p. 283, points out the 

 following phrase in Ha worth's description, " fusco-brunneis et stig- 

 mata ordinaria albido marginata," which he says is not applicable to 

 var. alopecurus. I quite agree with this, and hence have separated 

 them. I have no dark specimen with the stigmata outlined in white, 

 but I do not doubt but that specimens occur in some cabinets. 



77. var. combusta of Hiibner (fig. 366) is different to the above. It 

 has the anterior wings, with an almost typical, reddish-brown costa, 

 with pale costal streaks and distinct stigmata, outlined in paler, but 

 with the lower half of the wings unicolorous, dark, reddish-brown. 

 Hiibner's combusta seems a combined form of var. intermedia (costal 

 half of wings), and var. alopecurus (inner marginal half of the wing). 

 This appears to be the nearest approach to the dark forms generally 

 obtained in Britain. Guenee refers combusta, Hb., to alopecurus, Esp., 

 an evident error. His description, too, of alopecurus, Esp., ' Noc- 

 tuelles,' vol. v., p. 138, is more like Hiibner's combusta than Esper's 

 alopecurus. Guenee writes : " The ground colour of the anterior wings 

 entirely of a deep, red-brown colour, with some bright marks on the 

 costa, and the outside of the reniform surrounded by yellow. Fringe of 

 the four wings equally brown, with some yellow streaks on the superiors, 

 and a reddish line in the inferiors. Females still darker." 



6. var. alopecurus, Esp. From the alopecurus of Esper, plate cxlvii., 

 fig. 3,1 made the following description : " The anterior wings of a dark 

 reddish brown, with five strong, black costal streaks, no orbicular, 

 large reniform of the ground colour, with black centre and black cir- 

 cumscription, three white dots on costa near apex, three parallel to 

 hind margin near apex, three tiny white dots at anal angle, nervures 

 black. Hind wings dark grey, with blackish nervures and lunule." 

 Very few British specimens, I believe, will answer to this description 

 of alopecurus. Guenee says of alopecurus, Esp. : " the exterior out- 

 line of the reniform yellowish." This is evidently incorrect of Esper's 

 figure. Newman says : ' uniform red-brown, the reniform spot 

 being indicated by a pale line, and a few other darker and paler dots 

 scattered over the wing " (' British Moths,' p. 283). Dr. Staudinger in 

 his ' Catalog ' says of this variety : " al. ant. unicolor, brunneis." 



. var. nigro-rubida, mihi. The most extreme melanic form of the 

 species, of a most intensely blackish-red or blackish-brown colour ; no 

 pale streaks on the costa, and perfectly unicolorous, with the excep- 

 tion of a faint trace of the outline of the orbicular and the outer edge 

 of the reniform. Hind wings dark grey, nervures more dusky. 

 Thorax of the same dark colour as the anterior wings. The type of 

 this variety was captured in Lewis in 1887. I have only seen speci- 

 mens of this variety from the Hebrides. 



Xylophasia, St., hepatica t L.' 

 The type of this species is described by Linnaeus, ' Systema 



