IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 59 



' Only,' added he, ' this dark coloration is explained by the climate of 

 Scotland ; it is curious that the same modification is produced in the 

 warmest part of France ' (in Hit.}. The ab. then, comes, not only from 

 Provence, since it has also been found in the north of Great Britain " 

 (' Icouographie et Des. de Chen, et Lep. inedits,' ii., p. 151). This is 

 Guenee's variety A, of which he writes : " The superior wings are 

 straighter tind less rounded on the outer margin ; they are very dark, 

 almost black, with some clearer spaces reddish ; of which the three 

 most distinct ones are behind the reniform, and two others on the 

 inner margin outside the median lines ; the markings are very indis- 

 tinct, especially the subterminal line, which is only represented by 

 some clear parts ; the inferior wings are entirely blackish and only a 

 little clearer in the centre ; the thorax is darker." He then adds : 

 " This remarkable variety, which is perhaps a distinct species, was 

 sent to me by M. Donzel, who took it at Hyeres. Unfortunately I 

 have no more specimens of it to compare with a very large number of 

 agatkina " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 294). Staudinger, in his ' Catalog,' 

 p. 81, simply says of it : " Obscurior." 



/?. var. rosea, mihi. The anterior wings of a bright rosy tinge, 

 with the markings otherwise as in the type, the transverse lines, 

 stigmata and row of cuneiform spots being developed equally well. It 

 is the more common form in the south of England. 



Agrotis, Och., subrosea, Stphs. 



This species, so nearly allied to vestigialis and obelisca, is generally 

 placed in the genus Noctua in England. The richly coloured British 

 type, unknown on the Continent of Europe, and unhappily supposed 

 to be extinct here, is of a rich rosy-grey, almost, in some specimens, rosy- 

 brown. The darkest Continental specimens, although approaching 

 the palest known British examples, form on the whole a very distinct 

 race. These ashy-grey, often almost lilac-tinged specimens, are known 

 as var. sukccerulea on the Continent. The type is described and figured 

 in Stephens' ' Illustrations,' p. 200, pi. xix., fig. 1, also in Newman's 

 1 British Moths,' p. 351, where it will be noticed that the pectinated 

 antennas and characteristic pale costa of the tritici-obelisca group, 

 remove it from our restricted genus Noctua. In Humphrey and 

 Westwood's ' British Moths,' p. 126, we read : " This very distinct 

 species differs from the remainder of the genus (Graphiphora) in 

 the strongly pectinated antenna, as well as in the large size of the 

 under wings. It measures from ! to If inch in expansion of the 

 fore wings, which are of a brownish-grey tinged with rosy ; the costa 

 with several dusky spots, two undulated but rather indistinct strigae 

 towards the base of the wings, a triangular brown patch preceding the 

 basal stigma, and another more oblong between it and the hinder stigma, 

 which is grey with the centre darker, the latter succeeded by a very 

 curved row of dots, sometimes connected by lunules, beyond which 

 is a dusky submarginal irregular stripe; the apical margin paler, 

 dotted with dusky. The hind wings very pale ashy-buff, with a broad 

 apical dusky fascia. The antennas in the male are strongly bipecti- 

 nated to the tip, and fulvescent, those of the female very slightly 

 ciliated." Guenee writes of the type : " Superior wings of a rosy- 

 grey, with the lines fine, dentate, and indistinct ; the subterminal line 

 pale, slightly waved and shaded anteriorly with rosy-brown. The 



