126 VARIETIES Off KOCTUvB 



terlinge,' &c., represent the type of this species. His figure 784 may 

 be described as : " Anterior wings purplish-brown, with all the pale 

 markings of a delicate violet, except along the inner margin, where 

 they are yellow. Antennas pectinated. Hind wings grey, darker on 

 the hind margin, with a dark line parallel to the hind margin." His 

 figure 785, is the under side of the male represented in fig. 784 ; while 

 figure 786 is a female, having " the anterior wings dark reddish 

 brown, with all the pale transverse lines ochreous, and nervures 

 white." I believe the oditis of Hiibner (fig. 694) is only a small 

 hispida $ . It would appear that the continental specimens of this 

 species are, in general, more violet than our British specimens, for in 

 the 'Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 172, Guenee, describing his var. A, says, "less 

 violet," thus leaving us to assume that their type, which he refers to 

 Hiibner's fig. 784 is violet-coloured. For this type he gives as a lo- 

 cality " Provence." Kegarding these violet-tinged hispida in England, 

 in answer to a query from me, Mr. Nelson M. Bichardson, B.A., writing 

 from Weymouth, says : " I cannot see anything worth calling a violet 

 tinge on any of my specimens : there is an approach to a violet tinge 

 on the transverse line just beyond the reniform, but I should not 

 mention it in a description as such, as it is scarcely violet, but rather 

 steel-grey." I have received specimens from Mr. Kichardson, and 

 Colonel Partridge, captured at Portland in 1888, and I have a number 

 of specimens from Torquay, but none of these show the typical violet 

 coloration. I have also bred several from Portland pupae and these 

 show no trace of it. . It is remarkable that the specimens from Portland 

 have a much clearer white ground colour* than those from Torquay, 

 the hind margin of the anterior wings with a broad silvery band ; 

 while those from the latter place have only a fine line, and the hind 

 wings of the former are so white that they present a very different 

 appearance to Torquay specimens. The latter, indeed, appear to be 

 very close to Hiibner's oditis. Among our ordinary British specimens, 

 we appear to have four (at least) distinct forms : 

 1. A dark brown form, with deep ochreous stigmata, and dark 



ochreous grey hind wings in both sexes = var. suffusa. 

 2. A dark brown form, with silvery white markings, white band 

 on hind margin, hind wings comparatively pale = var. 

 argentea. 

 3. A pale brownish grey form, with white markings and white hind 



wings = var. pallida. 



4. An obsolete form, with no markings whatever between the reni- 

 form and outer margin = var. obsoleta. 



a. var. intermedia, mihi. An intermediate form, described by 

 Guenee as var. A, which serves to connect Hiibner's violet type with 

 our British specimens which are without such a tint. It is described 

 in his ' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 172, as : " Generally paler, more yellow, 

 less violet, with the lines and stigmata more decided, of a clearer white. 

 The inferior wings clearer. Locality, West of France." If Guenee 

 did not leave us to suppose that this variety was violet-tinged, I 

 should certainly suppose it was the same as the ordinary Portland 

 specimens. 



* This is worthy of notice, as the same difference exists in specimens of 

 Epwnda lichenea from these localities. 



