118 VARIETIES OF NOCTTLSE 



Crymodes, Gn>, exults, Lef . 



This most interesting and excessively variable species occurs but 

 rarely on the mainland of the British Isles, but in the extreme northern 

 islands it is sometimes fairly abundant, becoming in Iceland, Green- 

 land and Labrador one of the most common NOCTU^E. It is also one of 

 the most variable species, and large numbers of different forms have been 

 described by different authors, more especially by Dr. Staudinger in 

 his papers on the Entomology of Iceland. In 1889 and 1890 a very 

 considerable number were captured by the Eev. Dr. Walker, and Dr. 

 P. B. Mason, and exhibited at the meetings of the Entomological Society 

 of London. In ' Entom.' xxii., p. 300, we read that Crymodes exulis 

 was common at Keykjavik and Thingvellir, and that one specimen of 

 a very dark type was taken at Triusvik. Of the variation in the 

 species Dr. Staudinger says : " species incredibiliter aberrans ; an 

 praBcedentis (maillardi) sp. Darw. ? " (' Catalog,' p. 100). This species is 

 comparatively rare in Britain, and my series is too short to attempt a 

 classification of the different forms, although some of those that I have 

 seen are very striking. I shall therefore only deal with those varieties 

 which have been described by other authors. The type is described 

 by Lefebvre in the 'Ann. Soc. Fr.,' 1836, p. 392, and figured Plate 10, 

 2. His description is : " $ . Alis anticis f usco-cinereo variis, 

 fascia media rufescente, maculis ordinariis cinereis, renif ormi dilutori, 

 striga postica dentata fulva ; fimbria fulvo fusco intersecta ; posticis 

 fulvo cinereis ciliis flavidis." He then remarks : " This Noctuelle is 

 near Hadena adusta. Its fore wings are variegated above with grey 

 and brown, and traversed by a broad reddish -brown band, bordered on 

 each side by a black dentate line. In this band are the two ordinary 

 stigmata, grey in colour, the orbicular oblong and very oblique, 

 the reniform much clearer and edged exteriorly with white. Parallel 

 to the hind margin is a dentate line, of a clear fawn colour, and 

 bordered internally with a row of cuneiform spots of a deep brown. 

 Fringes reddish-brown with clear fawn-coloured markings. Posterior 

 wings greyish fawn-colour ; fringes yellowish-white." The specimen 

 came from " Labrador." Guenee writes of this type : " It is near to 

 groenlandica, but its facies is different, and it resembles equally a 

 Hadena or a Luperina. Its superior wings are a little squarer, more 

 dentate, with the last tooth of the inner margin deeper. The median 

 space is deeper than the ground colour, the edging of the transverse 

 lines less black. The subterminal is more wavy, more continuous, and 

 its lighter portion forms a letter M . The two ordinary stigmata are 

 larger, the reniform longer. The fringe is more spotted. The inferior 

 wings also have the fringes of a very clear ochreous- white " (' Noc- 

 tuelles,' vol. v., pp. 186 187). Guenee adds that his description was 

 made from the specimen that served as the type of M. Lefebvre. In New- 

 man's ' British Moths,' p. 411, there is a description of C. exulis taken from 

 Continental specimens, in the collection of Mr. H. Doubleday, together 

 with figures of two different forms. On the same page, a comparison 

 is also drawn between exulis and var. assimilis. We read : "It seems 

 desirable here to say a few words concerning Crymodes exulis, a species 

 to which the perfect insect, Hadena assimilis, has been referred by Dr. 

 Staudinger. In the first place I would remark that, supposing Cry- 

 modes exulis and Hadena assimilis to be identical, it is a remarkable 



