IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 2 



moment believe in the specific identity of A. tritici, nigricans and 

 obelisca, although I do in that of A. tritici and. aquilina. I would also point 

 out that the breeding of these common species from Iarva3 with similar 

 habits does not at all suggest that such were from the same eggs, and 

 until the forms now recognised as distinct are bred from eggs laid by 

 one female, we shall not be able readily to prove their specific identity. 

 Besides, in Continental works, different varieties of tritici, wrongly of 

 course, get all the names of the allied species due to the parallel 

 variation in that species. 



This group of Lepidoptera, as I have just pointed out, presents, 

 and always has presented, such a vast range of variation and 

 consequent difficulty of determination, even to our best lepidopterists, 

 that it seems only natural they would from time to time, have something 

 to say concerning such a difficult subject. It seems to me, however, 

 that the study of the type-species of these different forms, is very 

 necessary to enable us to get any knowledge of what is really meant 

 by these species, or to find how far our ideas agree with or differ from 

 the intentions of those lepidopterists who named these species. 



In the following remarks I have entirely neglected the consider- 

 ation of A. nigricans, because, in all its varietal forms there is no 

 doubt about the species, and even in its most extreme varieties it is 

 not likely to be mistaken for anything else. I will simply add that 

 the dark Scotch form is the Linnsean type (its name suggests it) ; our 

 Southern specimens are a mixture of var. fumosa (dark with a yellow 

 spot), ruris (the red form), obeliscata (with a dark rectangular spot 

 between the stigmata) and mdrshallana (beautifully marbled with 

 yellow) ; the two former generally occur in abundance, the two latter 

 more rarely ; in fact, the last is an excessively rare variety. 



Agrotis tritici. The type of this species was described by Linnaeus, 

 1 Systema Nature,' No. 320, as : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata cinerea 

 alis maculis, duabus pallidioribus unaque nigricante. Stigma ovale et 

 reniforme ut in reliquis juxta ovale internis macula nigra ejusdem 

 magnitudinis similis Ph. graminis." This reference to graminis makes 

 it quite clear that the type was striated, that is, it had a streaked costa 

 and pale median nervure, together with a row of wedge-shaped 

 markings paralled to the hind margins, these all being constant 

 characters of every variety of this species. In addition, we learn that 

 the colour was cinereous, that the two ordinary stigmata were pale, the 

 claviform black, and that there was a black spot of equal size just 

 within the orbicular stigma. Taking all these things into consideration, 

 there is little difficulty to fix on a type; the colour, as before 

 mentioned, is cinereous, and we have only to imagine a specimen of 

 such a colour, with all the characteristic markings, to settle the matter. 

 The first figure in Newman's ' British Moths ' would fulfil all the 

 conditions. So much for the type. 



A. aquilina. Hiibner's figure 135 represents the type of this 

 species, and it may be described as follows : " Anterior wings of a 

 dull dark brown, with the space beyond the reniform, i. e., between 

 the reniform and outer margin, darker than the base ; also darker 

 brown between the stigmata. The costa and median nervure 

 scarcely paler than the remainder of the wing, and then simply a 

 slightly paler shade of the ground colour. A dark streak runs under 

 the base of the median nervure ; the five wedge-shaped lineolaj which 



