64 VARIETIES OF NOCTU^J 



virgata, but has a brownish instead of the greyish ground colour of 

 the latter. It is a very distinct variety, and Freyer's figures are par- 

 ticularly good. 



D. Ground colour black. 



a. var. brunnea-virgata, mihi. This variety has the anterior wings 

 black in colour, with the outer margin beyond the subterminal line 

 of a bright ochreous or pale brown. In the ' Entomologist,' vol. xxii., 

 p. 15, is a record of the capture of this variety near Ely. 



ft. var. venosa, mihi. This is another rare development of the 

 species ; the anterior wings black, but the nervures standing out con- 

 spicuously in a paler ochreous colour. 



y. var. transversely mihi. This is a more common black variety 

 than either of the two preceding. The ground colour of the anterior 

 wings is black, but the transverse lines are paler, and hence stand out 

 conspicuously. 



8. var. nigra, mihi. This is the most extreme form of the species, 

 there being no paler markings whatever about the -variety. The 

 anterior wings are black in colour, the stigmata being noticeable in a 

 still more intense depth of the same colour. The transverse lines are 

 also traceable, owing to their deeper shade of colour. 



Agrotis, Och., exclamationis, Linn. 



This is another most variable species, both in the ground colour 

 and in the development of the markings, especially the stigmata. The 

 anterior wings have normally the four ordinary transverse lines in this 

 group, and the three stigmata. The ground colour varies from a clear 

 whitish-grey in two directions : 1st, through a bright reddish-grey 

 to a deep red-brown, and 2nd, through a dark fuscous to a deep black- 

 grey. In some specimens a shade runs along the costa, apparently 

 obliterating the upper parts of the orbicular and reniform. But the 

 most remarkable variation of this species, is in connection with the 

 stigmata. The claviform varies very much both in size and shape, but 

 is usually black in colour ; the reniform, usually badly developed in 

 its upper part, is of some shade of grey, deepening in the dark varieties 

 into reddish-brown or black, and occasionally sending out lineolse into 

 the orbicular or towards the outer margin ; but the orbicular varies most, 

 from a well developed, large oval or circular ocellated spot to entire 

 absence, sometimes situated at some distance from the reniform, at 

 other times in close contact. I have a specimen from Mr. Esson, taken 

 at Aberdeen, without either transverse lines or stigmata. I have other 

 specimens with the transverse lines and orbicular absent, but none so 

 clear as the Aberdeen specimen. Fairly constant forms of variation 

 are those, in which the orbicular and reniform are joined, forming a 

 more or less continuous line, and where the claviform is joined to both 

 reniform and orbicular. I have also a specimen in which the wings 

 on one side are fairly normal, but on the other, the whole centre of 

 the wing has a scorched appearance, or rather as if a pigment in the 

 three stigmata had become wetted and'thus run over the central area of 

 the wing. The hind wings of the male are white, with faint traces of a 

 marginal band in some specimens ; nervures variable in intensity from 

 dark grey to almost total absence ; lunule sometimes faint, generally 

 absent. In the female, they are dark grey, base slightly paler ; ner- 

 vures darker ; lunule generally defined, sometimes very distinct. 



