136 VARIETIES OF 



nei's fig. 590, may he described as:" $ . Anterior wings having 

 the ground colour bright yellow, tinted slightly with orange, and 

 much clouded with grey atoms ; the two transverse basal lines .stand 

 out distinctly in the clear ground colour ; stigmata clear yellow ; a 

 broad shade of the same colour from near the apex to the inner mar- 

 gin ; the central area above, below and around the stigmata grey with 

 a greenish tinge, the outer margin of wing also greenish-grey with a 

 fine wavy line passing through it parallel to hind margin. Hind 

 wings very dark grey, base paler." 



Luperina, Bdv., dumerilii, Dup. 



Of this very distinct Luperina six specimens are supposed to have 

 been captured in Britain ; see ' Entomologist,' vol. xviii., pp. 73, 74, 

 and Newman's ' British Moths,'* pp. 296, 297. I have seen none of 

 the British specimens, but amongst the continental ones I have looked 

 through, there appears to be a great deal of difference in the intensity 

 of the markings. The type form has distinct markings and pale stig- 

 mata in both males and females, but the females are rather darker than 

 the males. Some specimens are, however, almost unicolorous, although 

 the markings are traceable. Dr. Staudinger treats these dark speci- 

 mens as Boisduval's desyllesi. The following note I made some time 

 ago of the specimens in the continental Doubleday collection at the 

 Bethnal Green Museum : " Dumerilii is very distinct from any other 

 species. The females are darker than the males ; the males have 

 whitish stigmata, and so has one female ; the other two females are 

 more unicolorous, and have the stigmata indistinct." 



a. var. desyllesi, Bdv. This is treated by Guenee as a distinct 

 species, but Dr. Staudinger treats it as a var. of dumerilii, a view I 

 believe now to be accepted by most continental lepidopterists. 

 Staudinger says of it : " Al. ant. fere unicolor." Guenee, in his 

 * Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 183, gives a very complete description. He 

 writes : '' Superior wings of a grey-brown, with the two median lines 

 slender, blackish, margined exteriorly with a fine yellowish line. No 

 claviform stigma (at least in the one I describe from). Ordinary 

 stigmata distinct, of a yellowish white, with a grey-brown centre. 

 Subterminal line of a yellowish white, straight, but continued so as to 

 touch the two edges of the wing. Terminal space not much darker 

 than the ground colour. Inferior wings white in both sexes, with a 

 greyish margin ; all four wings white beneath, with an angulated 

 grey line near the outer margin." Guenee mentions, too, only " two 

 examples." 



ft. var. diversa, Heyne ? . A variety is found in Herr Heyne's trade 

 catalogue under this name, but I know nothing of it. 



Luperina, Bdv., cespitis, Fab. 



The type of this species is described by Fabricius in his * Man- 

 tissa,' p. 156, No. 148, as: " Noctua cristata, alis incumbentibus 

 fuscis : strigis tribus undatis albidis nigr?e innatis, posticis albis." 

 " Media. Caput et thorax fusca, immaculata. Alas anticse fusca3 niti- 

 dulas strigis tribus undatis pallidis, unica ante medium, duabus pone 



* This latter record is not quite correct in its particulars; vide 'Entom.,' 

 xviii., p. 74. 



