86 VARIETIES OP NOCTU2 



variety of basilinea. The chief differences are that the general colour 

 is of a pronounced vinous tinge ; in some the space between the 

 median lines is darker, so as to make a distinct band across the wing, 

 which includes the stigmata ; in others, the dusky line, from the 

 stigmata to the inner margin, is more pronounced than in the 

 generality of English specimens. In support of my belief, I have 

 collected numerous specimens from English localities, and in some 

 few of them, especially from Yorkshire and Newcastle, both the vinous 

 tinge, as well as the distinct band of the North American insect, are 

 quite perceptible " (in Hit.}. Grote (' Check List of N. American Noc- 

 tuidse,' 1890) considers it distinct. 



Apamea, Och., pabulatricula, Brahm (connexa, Bork.). 



The type of this species is described by Brahm, ' Insektenkalender 

 fur Sammler und (Ekonomen,' as : " Grey Noctua, with orange- 

 coloured crests." " Head and palpi grey ; antennaB ash-coloured ; 

 eyes black-brown ; crest grey, and has in front a faint brown trans- 

 verse line, on each side a black brown streak, in the middle an erect 

 orange- coloured crest ; body grey, with a few ash-coloured ridges 

 (comb-shaped) on the back. Fore wings grey, with a short brownish 

 black line at the base of the wing. The orbicular and renif orm stand in 

 a light brown ground ; before the stigmata is an undulating transverse line 

 and beyond them another, which come so near together that they almost 

 join and form the apex of an almost right-angled triangle, but instead 

 of really joining they separate suddenly and turn back arch-like ; the 

 space to the inner margin filled out with blackish brown, crossed by a 

 pale grey longitudinal line,' which also passes through both trans- 

 verse lines ; on the inner margin stand a few pale brownish tooth- 

 shaped markings turned towards the inside, and close to the edge a row 

 of blackish brown triangular spots. Hind wings ashy grey." This 

 description agrees almost precisely with the specimens captured in 

 Yorkshire, and sent out by Messrs. Harrison and Young in consider- 

 able numbers ; but Mr. Young writes : " In fresh specimens the crest 

 is rosy. The hind wings, too, are dark smoke colour, nearly black, 

 but both the rosy crest and dark hind wings soon fade " (in litt.). 

 There appears to be no variation worth speaking of ; occasionally the 

 shading on the costa is stronger, and hence makes the central area 

 (enclosing the orbicular) more band-like ; the length of the black 

 HH - mark varies, and thus causes a difference in the width of this cen- 

 tral band in its lower part ; the pale line (really on the nervure), 

 mentioned above as crossing the lower part of the band, is often 

 indistinct ; and the row of black triangular spots (really the teeth of 

 the wavy subterminal line) is very poorly developed in British 

 specimens. Hubner figures this species under the name of elota, with 

 the central band and base of wings ochreous. Our specimens possess 

 the slightest possible ochreous tinge in the centre of the banded area, but 

 1 have never seen any real characteristic development in this direction, 

 a. var. elota, Hb. Hiibner, as mentioned above, figures in his 

 * Schmetterlinge,' &c., a form of this species with the markings much 

 as in the figure of Newman's ' British Moths,' but with the central and 

 basal areas of the anterior wings ochreous, and the costal and outer 

 margins white. 



