82 VARIETIES Of NOCTtLfi 



gin dark reddish." Hiibner figures (460) scolopacina, a small male, 

 with ground colour pale ochreous, the middle of the wing (between 

 the stigmata) and the outer margin reddish, orbicular indistinct, reni- 

 form white, with a small white spot beyond the reniform. Guenee 

 says of scolopacina : " It varies much in size and intensity of colour, 

 but the lines are always more distinct than in any other Xylophasia " 

 (< Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 145). Of Freyer's, Plate Ixiv., fig. 1 scolo- 

 pacina, I made the following notes : " Yellow ochreous with a reddish 

 tint, a dark red lineola at base of inner margin, orbicular outlined in 

 blackish, reniform red outlined in whitish ; four dark costal streaks 

 above stigmata, a double basal line, a waved line outside reniform, 

 forming almost linear dots on nervures, dark reddish line parallel to 

 hind margin." It will be thus seen that Esper's type and Hiibner's 

 figure are much darker than the generality of specimens taken in 

 Britain, while Freyer's is very much like them. I have a specimen 

 captured by Mr. Harrison, near Barnsley, slightly glaucous, but other- 

 wise dark like the type. All my others are much paler. The dark 

 type is also described in Humphrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' 

 vol. i., p. 160, but the pale form is figured in the same work, Plate 

 xxxii., fig. 8. The paler form is described by Haworth as follows : 



a. var. abbreviata, Haw. " Alae ex hepatico-lutescentes, vel subinde 

 saturatiores varie nebulosas ; basi ad latus interius lineola nigra, fascia 

 subfusca in medio costse valde abbreviata ; pone stigmata ordinaria ob- 

 soleta, striga tenuis nigra, regulariter et concinne dentata : tune striga 

 altera crassior fusco-brunnea juxta marginem posticum, parum undu- 

 lata ; margine ipso ustulato, punctis circiter quinque pallidis ; ciliis 

 itidem ustulatis " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 170). As these pale 

 specimens vary a little inter se, I think Haworth's name should include 

 all our paler ochreous forms. 



? ft. var. nux, Frey. Guenee, in his ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 145, 

 gives this as a probable variety of scolopacina. He says of it : " I have 

 not seen it, and I do not know whether it constitutes a distinct species, 

 which is very possible. After the figure of Freyer, it is of a larger 

 size, the crest and the thorax are of a deeper brown, and other less 

 important characters." My own note on this is : " Freyer, Plate 

 ccclxx., fig. 3. Like scolopacina, but as large as rurea." The figure 

 is very poorly done, and I should not be at all surprised if it really 

 referred to X. hepatica. 



Dipterygia, St., scabriuscula, L. 



The type of this species is the scabriuscula of the ( Systema Naturae,' 

 10th edition, p. 516, No. 108, where it is described as follows : 

 " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alis deflexis fuscis : margine dorsali pos- 

 ticoque pallidis." " Cristae in dorso ipsius abdominis 4 pone thoracem 

 gibbum." The same author, in the 12th edition of the same work, appears 

 to describe the same species under the name of pinastri, but in the 

 description of pinastri he uses the word " nigris " instead of " fuscis," 

 otherwise the descriptions are identical. There is a difference in the 

 ground colour, some being much better described by the term "fuscous " 

 than " black." It is described by Haworth (p. 172) under the same name 

 pinastri, as : " Alis nigris, macula striata cinerea aquillae alam simulante 

 ad angulum ani." " Oristata, niger vel ater, an tennis subferrugineis, 



