00 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



parts of the subterminal line well marked and the stigmata strongly 

 yellowish " (' Noctuelles ', vol. v., p. 286). Staudinger simply says of 

 it " dilutior, rubricans " (' Catalog ', p. 87), a remark so comprehensive 

 that it is practically useless, as it includes all the allied varieties. 

 This reddish form would appear to be one of our commonest varieties 

 in Kent, where so many specimens are of a reddish ground colour, 

 with the strigfe differing but little from the surrounding colour in 

 shade, except that they are perhaps a little paler. Almost all my 

 specimens have come from Kent. Guenee's reference to this variety 

 would appear to be an extension of Esper's type description, but the pale 

 markings, such as they are, are sometimes of a yellowish tint but 

 differing much from the strongly marked var. vilis. 



(3. var. vilis, Hb. This variety has " the anterior wings of a dark 

 reddish-brown, with an abbreviated, followed by a complete yellow 

 transverse basal line ; orbicular absent ; reniform yellow with a 

 yellowish streak from costa to inner margin running right through it ; 

 near the apex are three pale costal streaks, the inner of which is 

 continued down, as a broken dotted line, as far as the reniform ; the 

 outer costal streak is the commencement of a row of dots parallel to 

 the hind margin. Hind wings ochreous-grey, no markings, base paler" 

 (' Sammlung europaischer Schmet.' &c., fig. 511). Of this variety 

 Guene'e writes : " I have not seen it in nature, but it appears to belong 

 here. The ground colour is like that of the type, with the lines and 

 stigmata well marked, of a clear yellow ; the reniform is crossed by a 

 pale line starting from the costa, which replaces the ordinary median 

 shade" (' Noctuelles/ vol. v., p. 287). This is a very fine variety, 

 being exceedingly mottled with yellow. I have frequently obtained 

 somewhat similar varieties in different parts of Kent. My nearest 

 approach to this variety has the elbowed line complete, but it does not 

 pass through the reniform as in Hiibner's figure, although the upper 

 part is near to it. This variety is incorrectly referred by Bentley 

 (' Entom..' vol. i.) to var. dubia, Haw. 



y. var. quadrata, mihi. The anterior wings of a dark reddish- 

 brown colour ; the transverse lines and stigmata paler, sometimes 

 tinged with ochreous ; the space between the orbicular and reniform 

 dark, almost black. This variety, with its dark ground colour and 

 still darker quadrate spots, bears a very distinct superficial resemblance 

 to our Isle of Wight specimens of A. obelisca. It is of course a parallel 

 variety to var. oleliscata, with darker ground colour. I have specimens 

 from Deal, Hartlepool, Greenwich and Aberdeen. 



8. var. ochrea, mihi. A dark reddish -brown form, closely allied 

 to var. striata. There are distinct yellow, longitudinal dashes under 

 the bases of the median and sub-costal nervures ; the transverse basal 

 line is distinctly ochreous ; the orbicular and claviform slightly 

 ochreous but indistinct, the outer part of reniform yellowish ; the 

 elbowed line almost obsolete ; the subterminal line represented by 

 ochreous dots, from which ochreous striations pass to the elbowed line. 

 Hind wings grey, outer margin darker. My specimens came from 

 Deal. 



e. var. fusco-variegata, mihi. The type of this variety I consider 

 the finest specimen of the species in my collection. The anterior 

 wings dark reddish-brown with a purplish tinge, the incomplete and 

 complete, basal, transverse lines ochreous, with ochreous dashes under 



