IN THE BKITISH ISLANDS. Ill 



neighbourhood of Hull, and Shoeburyness. A series that I have looked 

 over, taken by Mr. Robson at Hartlepool, belong principally to this 

 form. 



y. var. nigro-distincta, mihi. This is Guenee's var. B., which he 

 describes as follows : " Similarly (to var. fribolus) of a greyish black. 

 All the markings clearly written. Inferior wings with the outer 

 margin more deeply marked, and a more distinct lunule" ('Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 194). Guenee treats this only as a North American variety, 

 giving the State of New York and Canada as localities. I have speci- 

 mens of this form from Greenwich, and the neighbourhood of Ciiffe 

 (Kent) ; but although those from the latter locality are well marked, 

 they scarcely appear so, owing to the intense depth of the ground 

 colour. Mr. T. Baxter writes : " I have specimens from Lytham and 

 here (S. Anne's-ou-the-Sea) that come under your description of var. 

 nigro-distincta " (in litt.). 



8. var. fribolus, Bdv. This is the nigricans of Freyer. Guenee's 

 description is : " Superior wings of a deep greyish black." Same 

 localities as type. I would include all unicolorous, greyish black 

 forms under this name. I have specimens from Shoeburyness, Deal, 

 near Cliffe, and Fleetwood. There appears to be no doubt that the 

 steel-grey Lancashire specimens must be included under this varietal 

 name. 



Mamestra, Och., sordida, Bork. 



The type of this species is thus described in Borkhausen's 

 ' Naturegeschichte der Europaischen Schmetterlinge,' p. 239 : " It is 

 as large and nearly the shape of Noctua brassicce. The fore wings 

 mottled, with a mixture of earth-grey and pale dirty brown ; markings 

 extremely indistinct and pale. In some specimens three pale trans- 

 verse lines can be distinguished : the one at the base is very pale ; the 

 second has particularly strong zigzag marks near the inner margin ; 

 the third forms a slight semicircle. They are all paler than the ground 

 colour, but edged with darker. On the inner side of the third line is 

 a row of brownish moonshaped spots, which turn their hollow sides 

 inwards. Close to the hind margin is a pale zigzag line, which forms 

 in the middle a small Latin W. The ordinary markings between the 

 second and third transverse lines are very faintly marked ; the clavi- 

 form is indistinctly surrounded with whitish grey, and scarcely visible, 

 the reniform is strongly marked with blackish grey, outlined with 

 whitish, and with a grey centre ; the orbicular is pale brownish ; the 

 costa has some dark spots, and near the apex are a few yellowish spots. 

 Hind wings whitish grey, shaded with black at the outer margin ; 

 veins darker ; transverse line sometimes traceable. This NOCTUA varies 

 considerably in the amount of light and dark shading of the wings ; 

 in some specimens the colour of the wings is very dark, and frequently 

 black is mixed with the ground colour." 



This is another variable species, the ground colour extending 

 from a pale unicolorous ochreous grey, with scarcely any markings 

 (var. renardii), to a bright reddish ochreous (var. ochracea), through a 

 dark grey form much suffused with red (var. anceps), to a form entirely 

 made up of a dark, dirty-grey ground colour, much suffused with darker 

 greyish brown (the type). The dark red suffused forms (var. anceps) and 

 the dark earth-grey and brown (the type) forms are much more common 



