108 VARIETIES OF 



minute ones near the apex ; an obscure black line near the base, and a 

 lanceolate one at the interior margin ; two waved, narrow, whitish 

 transverse lines, one before, the other beyond the middle, the nervure 

 in the centre cream-coloured and furcate ; above is a small ocellated 

 spot, arid below a black hook ; beyond it is a cream-coloured ear- 

 shaped spot with a dark line on the inside ; near to the posterior 

 margin runs a yellowish dentated striga with three blackish short rays 

 on the inside ; cilia ochreous with a fuscous line down the middle, and 

 a black chain at the base. Body and inferior wings yellowish 

 fuscous, the former rosy-ochre at the apex, the latter with a 

 fuscous undefined fimbria and a lunular line towards the middle ; 

 the cilia ochreous with a fuscous line. Underside pale ochreous 

 and fuscous, the inferior wings with a distinct blackish spot 

 near the middle." A good figure of the type is found in Humphrey 

 and Westwood's ' British Moths,' pi. xxxviii., fig. 14. Herr Hoffmann, 

 writing of the Shetland specimens in the ' Stettiner Zeitung,' says : 

 " They have a reddish ground colour and are more distinctly marked 

 than the ordinary form. They agree more with the specimens from 

 the Upper Harz." There are five named varieties : 



a. var. A&erntca, St. The hibernica of Stephens is described in 

 Humphrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' vol. i., p. 182, as follows : 

 " The fore wings are reddish-brown, without any black lines at the 

 base : the strigse on each side of the characteristic portion of the wing 

 are present, followed by a whitish fascia, on which is a paler dentate 

 striga, the anterior stigma generally obsolete ; on the hinder margin is 

 an interrupted black line ; the pale colour of the central vein does not 

 extend so far as in the preceding (type), from which this accordingly 

 differs in the more uniform colours, and the want of the black mark- 

 ings. Found near Dublin." Guenee, in his ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 

 220, says of this variety : " Of a more ferruginous tint, less marked 

 with white. Orbicular concolorous and indistinct." Staudinger says 

 of it : " Al. ant. ferrugineo-fuscescentibus minus variegatis." I have 

 some very strong red forms from Bally castle, Ireland. 



P. var. lancea, St. The description of this variety from Hum- 

 phrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' p. 182, is as follows : "Differs 

 from the foregoing (hibernica}, chiefly in its smaller size (measuring 

 only half an inch in expanse) nearly uniformly coloured fore wings, 

 with the scarcely waved posterior strigae and paler hind wings. Taken 

 near Whittlesea-mere, &c." This variety is figured by Humphrey 

 and Westwood, pi. xxxviii., fig. 16. I have two specimens nearly 

 approaching this variety, one from Ballycastle, the other from the 

 Norfolk Broads. Some specimens, not only of this, but also of the other 

 varieties are very small. 



y. var. tripuncta, Curtis (' Brit. Ent.,' 260b, without description). 

 First described in Humphrey and Westwood's * British Moths,' p. 182, 

 as " having both the stigmata distinct and pale, as well as a patch 

 resting upon the subapical striga near the costa of the fore wings. 

 Taken at Horning in Norfolk." I have the same variety from the 

 Norfolk Broads. There is a good figure of this variety, pi. xxxviii., 

 fig. 15 of Westwood's work. 



8. var. mono, Ev. (< Evers. Bull. Mos.,' 1842, No. 3. < Faun. 

 Ural.,' p. 272). Guenee ; in his < Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 220, thus 



