IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 129 



Charaas graminis') by Lektor Holmgren ; on the ' Grasmasken,' Mr. 

 Sven has added the following more precise description of the varying 

 forms under which graminis appears with us * : ' It varies very much 

 in size and colour, and although no precise definition of either 

 can be given, they may be placed in two groups: I. Graminis, 

 Linn. ' Sys. Nat.,' x., 506 ; Esp., 68, fig. 1. Fore wings, ground colour 

 brownish or reddish grey. II. Var. brunnea. Fore wings, ground 

 colour red-brown (graminis Fib. 480 (?), 481 ; Bd., pi. Ixxiv., fig. 5). 

 As regards the markings of the fore wings, these are also subject to 

 much variation ; of the many specimens collected by Lektor Holmgren, 

 the following are the most marked variations: Ab. tricuspis, Esp. 

 (Hiibner's fig. 143 varies but little from the type) Fore wings have 

 no other markings than the usual spots, with the white nervures which 

 are connected with the outside bottom corner of the reniform. This 

 form seems to occur in our northern latitudes. Ab. albipuncta. Fore 

 wings reddish-brown with blackish nervures, with a white spot at the 

 bottom corner of the reniform. Ab. albineura, Bdv. * Ic.,' 74, 4. The 

 same points as the former, but the cells are black at the base and 

 between the median nervures, and also at the outer edge." These 

 descriptions are not very precise or clear, and the references seem in- 

 correctly given in some instances. The paper is useful, however, as 

 being one of the few attempts to classify the varieties of one of the 

 species of the NOCTU-S by a continental lepidopterist. 



a. var. gramineus, Haw. No. 2, above. This is described by 

 Haworth as : " Alis griseis linea trifurca alba, stigmatibus pallidis, 

 lineolisque acutis ad apicem atris." " Aflfinis praecedentibus (popularis) 

 at duplo minor ; antennis ferrugineis minus pectinatis et absque strigis 

 moniliformibus. Maris alee anticse grisese linea media trifurca albida a 

 basi post medium ducta ; supra lineam maculis tribus nigris difformi- 

 bus parvis et stigmata ordinaria lutescentia circulo pallidiore : subtus 

 lineam macula altera nigra trigona, et stigma tertium teliforme lutes- 

 cente nigro cinctum sed aliquo interruptum ; subtus hoc stigma lineola 

 nigra ad margiiiem tenuiorem prope basin. Ordo transversus punctorum 

 nigrorum cuspidatorum versus marginem posticum. Alae posticae 

 fuscaa, ciliis flavicantibus " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' pp. 117, 118). 

 This is probably the most common form occurring in Britain. I have 

 it from Glasgow, Sligo, Yorks, and many other localities, north and 

 south. 



ft. var. tricuspis, Esp. No. 3, above. Esper's tricuspis, ( { Die 

 Schmet. in Abbildungen,' &c., plate Ixviii., figs. 2 and 3), 

 may be described as follows : Fig. 2, $ . " Anterior wings 

 deep reddish brown, with a short, two-forked, longitudinal, basal 

 mark starting from centre of thorax ; between this and the 

 base, and extending along the median nervure, is an ochreous 

 longitudinal blotch, which is in contact with the orbicular and reni- 

 form, the blotch branching beyond the reniform. All the markings 

 dull ochreous grey." Esper's fig. 3 is a pale ochreous form, which he 

 calls a ? , but from the tufted anal segment it would appear to be a $ . 

 Of tricuspis, Esp., Guenee writes : " The ordinary stigmata and the 

 bidentate spot confluent, also the claviform, and prolonged in bright 

 yellow almost to the base of the wing " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 176). 



* In Scandinavia. 



I 



