IN THE bRITiSH ISLANDS. 3l 



. var. hastifera, Donz. Donzel's hastifera is, very wisely I think, 

 kept distinct from obelisca by Dr. Staudinger in his ' Catalog,' p. 88. 

 The other forms of obelisca are so decidedly distinct in appearance, 

 that there appears to be every reason for doing so, at any rate 

 provisionally. Donzel's diagnosis is as follows : " $ . Alis anticis 

 brunneis, vitta costali, alba, lata ; maculis duabus ordinariis albidis. 

 Posticis albis. Antennis valde pectinatis, apice undis. $ . Alis 

 anticis rufo-cinereis ; vitta, costali albida lata ; maculis duabus 

 ordinariis albidis. Antennis filiformibus " (' Trans. Ent. Soc. France,' 

 1847, p, 525). The types are also figured in the same work. Plate 

 viii., fig. 1 is a $ of a distinct vinous or purplish-brown tint, shaded a 

 little with bluey or slate colour, yellowish costal streak and stigmata ; 

 blackish between orbicular and reniform. Fig. 2 is a ? , reddish- 

 brown in colour very much more variegated than the $ , the wedge- 

 shaped spots, elbowed line (made of dots) &c. all very distinct. Of 

 this form Guenee writes : " Of a vinous-black, with the white costa 

 very distinctly separated from the rest of the wing, the orbicular grey, 

 and the reniform generally tinted with yellow superiorly." " Habitat 

 generally in mountainous countries " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 291). 

 Here then we have another dark Continental, melanic, mountain form, 

 becoming practically the type in Britain, another example of humid 

 conditions accompanying melanism. I find a great deal of minor 

 variation in our British specimens, those from Ayton (Berwick) and 

 Perth being as dark as specimens that I have from Hungary, but with 

 the transverse lines better developed, often with traces of the 

 development of the wedge-shaped spots, parallel to the outer margin, 

 so characteristic of the allied species, but so rarely developed in this. 

 The Isle of Wight specimens are paler, and although only a sub- var. 

 of this, are worthy of a distinctive name. 



77. var. yrisea, mihi. The specimens from Freshwater (Isle of 

 Wight) are rarely as dark as the Scotch specimens, but generally 

 finely dusted with grey scales, giving the ground colour of these 

 specimens a somewhat paler appearance. The form is, however, very 

 closely allied to hastifera and varies in the same way, sometimes 

 having well- developed transverse lines and occasionally traces of the 

 row of cuneiform spots, which are so rarely found in the paler and 

 more typical forms of this species. The greyer ground colour shades 

 off imperceptibly into the still paler costa, the latter therefore does 

 not stand out so markedly conspicuously as in the very dark forms 

 of the previous variety. I have seen specimens where the vinous 

 tint gives this variety a reddish appearance and it then somewhat 

 approaches the type coloration and that of Guenee's runs, but this 

 variety, like hastifera, is smaller than those forms. 



0. var. pratincola, Bork. Closely allied to Hiibner's type is 

 Borkhausen's pratincola. This may be descibed as being " of a dull 

 brown colour with a white costal margin; the two stigmata, one 

 round and one reniform in shape, are whitish with a light-brown 

 centre. Under the orbicular stands a brown longitudinal mark, 

 which is attached to the transverse basal line ; beyond the reniform 

 is a transverse row of brown pointed marks. Hind wings white with 

 a darker hind margin and blackish band " (< Naturegeschichte ' &c., p. 

 $53, No. 225). Guenee refers this to his obelisca. 



