146 tfAfclEl'lES OF 



gin ; posterior margin dotted with black. I took this specimen many 

 years since .i\ a little wood at Highgate ; it was examined and named 

 by the late Mr. Haworth. These varieties do not differ in the least in 

 any one essential specific character, either in antennas, palpi, tibiae or 

 tarsi ; their only difference is in the number of transverse strigaa, and 

 the colour of the wings varying from deep fuscous to a rusty yellowish 

 hue. They constitute but a single species." " Caradrina sepii and 

 morpheus. The anterior wings of sepii are usually griseous clouded 

 with fuscous, stigmata composed of fuscous spots, behind the posterior 

 is a dusky fascia ; some specimens are darker clouded and spotted with 

 deep fuscous or black ; these are generally called morpheus. I have 

 lately examined two specimens in the British Museum named morpheus : 

 these have the anterior wings flavescent ash, with the stigmata and 

 posterior fascia of a deeper hue. Probably age has caused their 

 flavescent appearance ; they are only slight varieties of sepii." "Cara- 

 drina cabicularis and super stes. The large and dark varieties are 

 generally named in British collections superstes ; all that I have seen 

 are mere varieties of cubicularis." 



Caradrina, Och., morpheus, Vieweg. 



The type of this species is thus described by Vieweg : " Noctua 

 morpheus cristata, alis planis anticis cinerascentibus, niaculis ordinariis, 

 fasciaque postica fuscis ; posticis albis," whilst in a further German 

 description he writes : " Yellowish grey, with greyish double trans- 

 verse lines, the ordinary stigmata dark grey. Hind wings white, with 

 a blackish lunule " (' Tabellarisches Verzeichniss,' &c., p. 40). 

 Treitschke quotes the * Berl. Mag.,' ' Naturf.,' and Vieweg in his 

 synonymy and then adds : " Car. alis anticis cinereo ochraceis, 

 niaculis ordinariis fasciaque externa obscurioribus ; posticis albidis " 

 (' Die Schrnet. von Europa,' p. 249). The species is not very prone to 

 vary. Hiibner figures a reddish-brown variety as sepii. A few of our 

 specimens are of the ochreous grey tint of Vieweg and Treitschke's 

 morpheus, and thus agree with the type, but most are of a deep ashy- 

 grey or fuscous-grey colour, strongly tinged with reddish on the 

 disc and around the stigmata, although occasional specimens have the 

 ground colour of a fuscous, inclining almost to black. The females 

 are generally rather smaller than the males. In vol. i. of the ' Ento- 

 mologist,' Mr. Eentley, as mentioned above, writing of morpheus and sepii 

 says : " The anterior wings of sepii are usually griseous clouded with 

 fuscous, stigmata composed of fuscous spots, behind the posterior is a 

 dusky fascia; some specimens are darker, clouded, and spotted with deep 

 fuscous or black ; these are generally called morpheus. I have lately 

 examined two specimens in the British Museum named morpheus. These 

 have the anterior wings flavescent ash, with the stigmata and posterior 

 fascia of a deeper hue. Probably, age has caused their flavescent 

 appearance. They are only slight varieties of sepii." As a matter of 

 fact, it is the other way about, the yellow or ochreous specimens con- 

 stitute the type, and our greyish fuscous forms are the variety. The 

 paler forms, i.e., the type and var. sepii are generally distinctly marked, 

 but some of our darker specimens have the markings very indistinct. 

 There is no doubt that the yellow-tinged form is quite a natural one. 

 The following are the only varieties I know of : 



