IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 85 



a. var. pallida, mihi. Ground colour of the anterior wings pale 

 ochreous grey, not " fuscous," with still paler transverse lines, and no 

 ferruginous or reddish clouds, otherwise like the type. The palest 

 form I have seen of this species came from Mr. Kuss, and was 

 captured at Sligo. 



P. var. unicolor, mihi. The ground colour of a dark reddish 

 brown, with a slight purplish tint ; the orbicular scarcely traceable ; 

 the reniform indistinct, but outlined in a slightly paler hue than the 

 ground colour ; the subterminal line just traceable. Hind wings very 

 dark grey, nervures dusky, lunule indistinct. Captured in Westcombe 

 Park, June, 1886. Mr. Porritt writes : " Eeddish brown forms occur 

 not uncommonly at Huddersfield, quite different to the southern clay- 

 coloured specimens " (in litt.} j and again he writes (' Transactions of 

 .Yorkshire Naturalists' Union,' Part vi., p. 76), " I have taken some 

 very beautiful strongly-coloured specimens at Huddersfield ; " so that 

 what would appear to be a very unusual form in the London district 

 may be closely allied to the ordinary one at Huddersfield. 



y. var. nebulosa, Yieweg. Yieweg, in his ' Tabellarisches 

 Yerzeichniss,' &c., pi. i., fig. 6, figures a variety under this name. It 

 has " The anterior wings pale ochreous grey, with the costal area 

 reddish, the red colour extending half-way across the wing from the 

 base to the reniform, and then going off to a point at the costa ; the 

 characteristic basal streak of basilmea is present, and there is a double 

 black basal line ; claviform and reniform outlined in black, but 

 orbicular indistinct ; lower half of reniform dark. Hind wings dark 

 grey, with paler base and darker nervures." Yieweg's diagnosis, p. 

 55, No. 84, is : " Cristata, alis deflexis cano fuscoque variis, litura 

 baseos marginisque tenuioris nigris." In his further description in 

 German we find : " The lower part of the outer reniform filled up 

 with blackish shading. Besides the black streak on the fold, there 

 stands close to the inner margin, about the middle of the wing, a 

 small narrow spot of the same colour, which forms a chief mark by 

 which this moth may be recognised." 



8. var. cinerascens, mihi. Anterior wings of a dull ashy grey, 

 with no trace of the ferruginous markings of the type ; the subter- 

 minal line of a paler shade of the ground colour ; the double basal 

 lines and stigmata of the ground colour, outlined in brown ; the 

 reniform internally edged with paler. Hind wings of the same dull 

 colour as the anterior. I have seen no specimens like these, except 

 from Hartlepool. Mr. Eobson sent me six specimens, of which three 

 were typical, and three of this dull, almost unicolorous, form. 

 Probably this variety is widely distributed in the most northern parts 

 of Britain. 



e. finitima, Gn. Guenee (as mentioned above) considers this 

 a distinct species, and writes : " This replaces, in the United States, 

 our basilinea, which it closely resembles. It is of the same size ; the 

 ground colour of the superior wings less reddish, and more white ; the 

 median space is, on the contrary, more strongly marked with reddish 

 brown, especially on the upper part ; the median lines are more 

 strongly marked in black, as well as the claviform, which is very 

 distinct." Mr. Dobree to whom I am greatly indebted for information, 

 writes : "The Hadena finitima of North America is only a climatic 



