Ifc THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 14"? 



ct. var. sepii, Hb. Hiibner in his ' Sammlung europaischer 

 Schmetterlinge' &c., figures a form of a pale reddish-brown ground colour, 

 with all the ordinary markings of morpheus, and a very pale line 

 parallel to the hind margin. Of this figure, we find in Humphrey 

 and Westwood's ' British Moths,' p. 145 : " Sepii, Hb. given as a 

 synonym, is probably a pale var. of morpheus" Our fuscous specimens 

 are frequently tinged with reddish, especially round the stigmata, and 

 have the markings very distinct, and would thus be probably referable 

 to Hiibner's sepii. It would appear to be advisable to refer all our 

 ordinary specimens with a reddish tint round the stigmata to sepii. 



/3. var. obscura, mini. The ground colour of the anterior wings 

 deep greyish-fuscous inclining to blackish, the darker stigmata and 

 transverse lines being comparatively inconspicuous owing to their 

 being but little deeper in shade than the ground colour. My darkest 

 specimen of this variety came from Burton-on-Trent. 



y. var. minor, mihi. I have in my collection a very small speci- 

 men, measuring only | of an inch in expanse, captured at Deal in June, 

 1888. It is of the pale greyish (sepii) form with distinct markings. 



Caradrina, Och., alsines, Brahm,* Bork. 



The type is thus described by Borkhausen : " This species is not 

 so large as N. stabilis. The ground colour of the upper wings is a 

 shiny light greyish brown, of which, sometimes the brown, sometimes 

 the grey preponderates ; three somewhat blackish transverse lines ; 

 the first at the base, then follow the two stigmata, the second of which 

 is dark centred, while the second transverse line is situated under the 

 third stigma (reniform) which is also darker than the light-yellowish 

 ground colour ; this is followed by a narrow band (spotted) whilst the 

 ordinary transverse line at the hind margin is yellowish with the 

 inner margin (of the line) darker. Hind wings whitish in the males, 

 grey in the females, with a darker margin " (' Naturegeschichte,' &c., 

 vol. iv., p. 607). This species, closely allied to, but abundantly distinct 

 from taraxaci, exhibits some traces of sexual dimorphism, the females 

 being, in the upper wings, darker and much more strongly marked 

 than the males, especially with regard to the dark transverse shade 

 passing through the reniform and the wavy line just beyond it. This 

 is undoubtedly the implexa of Stephens, which is described in Hum- 

 phrey and Westwood's ' British Moths,' p. 144, as : " Anterior wings 

 rusty or yellowish, with four fuscous transverse strigas ; the posterior 

 striga rather more undulated." Mr. South in * The Entomologist 

 Synonymic List' erroneously calls this a var. of taraxaci ; and sordida, 

 Haw., which is really a var. of taraxaci, is treated as a synonym of 

 alsines. Vars. 6 and 7 of Bentley, in the extract quoted under Cara- 

 drina, are also referable to alsines. 



a. var. suffusa, mihi. Guenee describes a suffused form which he 

 calls var. A as follows : " The costa, median space, subterminal line, 

 and a line bordering the fringe strongly powdered with black scales. 

 Comes from the same localities (as typical alsines) " (' Noctuelles,' vol. 

 v., p. 245). It would appear that Bentley's var. 7 agrees somewhat 

 with this variety. 



*Brahm only described the early stages. 



