IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 113 



Mamestra, Och., furva, Hb. 



The type of this species is represented by Hiibner's fig. 407, 

 which I have described as follows : " Anterior wings reddish brown, 

 with an abbreviated, followed by a complete basal streak, both of 

 which are ochreous and very pale in colour ; stigmata outlined with 

 yellowish, a dark transverse line passes between the stigmata from 

 costa to inner margin, two pale wavy ochreous lines between the reni- 

 form and hind margin. Hind wings grey, dark on the outer edge, 

 with a pale line running through the darker part." My own note is 

 this : " This is not a good figure of furva as we know it, and presents a 

 strong superficial resemblance to Luperina cespitis, but the transverse 

 lines are different to those of that species, and agree exactly with those of 

 furva." Guenee mentions two varieties, both from Russia ; and Freyer 

 has figured another. Herr Hoffmann, in the ' Stettin Entomologische 

 Zeitung,' 1884, p. 365, writes of the Shetland furva: "Kleiner und 

 dunkler als Stiicke aus den Schweizer Alpen." Guenee's description 

 (vide var. ochracea) of furva would answer very well for specimens I 

 have from Ayton (Berwickshire) and Paisley, except that the ground 

 colour is not yellowish brown ; but those from Aberdeen, Pitcaple and 

 Sligo are much darker. My Paisley specimens are of the ground 

 colour of Hiibner's type, whilst the German, Swiss, and French speci- 

 mens are paler. Our Aberdeen and Sligo forms apparently belong to 

 var. infernalis and var. silvicola, which only appear to be slight modifi- 

 cations of freyeri. Taking Hiibner's brown form as the type, 

 Guenee's furva is a lighter, freyeri and infernalis darker, and silvicola 

 an extreme melanic form. 



a. var. ochracea, mihi. Guenee, in his ( Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 197, 

 describes furva as : " Anterior wings yellowish brown, with the three 

 first lines very distinct, wavy, geminated, and outlined with yellowish 

 in the middle ; the angulated line composed of lunules in contact, a 

 series of very small yellowish dots between it and the subterminal, 

 which is very distinct, yellowish, wavy, broken in the centre and 

 marked with an M , and preceded by three or four black wedge-shaped 

 marks. The three stigmata clear, the outline of the reniform yel- 

 lowish, the claviform short, black, often indistinct. Fringe spotted. 

 Inferior wings greyish yellow, with a broad dark border, cut near the 

 anal angle by a short clear line, and a large dark lunule." I do not 

 think we get so pale a variety of furva as this in Britain. Mr. N. F. 

 Dobree writes : " I have specimens from Turkestan, and these agree 

 pretty closely with the var. ochracea " (in litt.). 



(3. var. freyeri, Frey. The type of this variety is figured by 

 Freyer in his ' Neuere Beitrage,' &c., pi. 159. It has the "anterior 

 wings of a more blackish ground colour." But Guenee, in his 

 ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., pp. 197, 198, writes : " I have seen a specimen 

 sent from Germany under this name, which does not differ in tint from 

 the ordinary furva." My own description of freyeri is as follows: 

 "Anterior wings blackish grey, with seven short black costal streaks, 

 with pale (almost white) transverse basal line ; orbicular and reniform 

 outlined in white, a pale wavy line directly beyond the reniform, 

 followed by a transverse row of pale ochreous dots, and a pale wavy 

 line (white), edged internally with blackish wedge-shaped marks (in 



