IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 67 



y. var. plaga, St. This is described as follows : " The ordinary 

 stigmata and strigse are obliterated, the place of the former being 

 occupied by a very faint brown dash, whilst the teliform stigma is distinct 

 and elongated into a stout, deep, black, longitudinal dash towards the 

 inner margin, and above one third of the length of the wing " 

 (' Illustrations of Brit. Ent.,' 388). It will be thus seen that this 

 variety has no transverse lines, and that a single line replaces the 

 ordinary orbicular and reniform stigmata, whilst another replaces the 

 teliform. I have specimens taken at Deal in 1888. 



8. var. juncta, mihi. A sub- variety of the last, in which the three 

 stigmata are all united in the form of black streaks, one streak 

 replacing the orbicular and reniform, another, the claviform stigma. 

 This is not at all a common development. I have specimens from 

 Deal and Greenwich. 



. var. lineolatus, mihi. This strange aberration is figured in 

 Newman's ' British Moths,' p. 326, fig. 1. The peculiar development 

 consists in the formation of lineolse running out from the reniform 

 stigmata and others taking the place of the cuneiform spots. Some 

 specimens show the development much better than others, but I would 

 include all forms showing this peculiarity under this name. 



Agrotis, Och., ripce, Hb.-Gey. 



This is another remarkably variable species, the specimens varying 

 from pure white or whitish-ochreous with the faintest possible traces 

 of stigmata, to dark grey with well-marked transverse lines and stig- 

 mata. Normally, there are in this species (as in the obelisca-tritici 

 group) four transverse lines, the outer being very faint and sometimes 

 forming a series of pale dots ; there are the ordinary three stigmata, 

 but these are generally very faint, although the intensity varies much, 

 and occasionally one or more of them may be remarkably well 

 developed. All the different varieties occur in both sexes, and the 

 females are, as a rule, rather larger than the males. The first specimens 

 I received of this species were from Mr. Harwood. They were very 

 large and most of them very pale. I then received specimens from 

 the Yorkshire coast, much darker, although almost as large, whilst 

 specimens received from the Lincoln coast appeared to be very small 

 compared with these, but were, nevertheless, darker than any I 

 previously had. This small darkest form I found, on reference to 

 Hiibner's ' Schmetterlinge ' &c., was the true type. His figure 702 

 may be described as : " Male, anterior wings with costal area slaty- 

 grey, inner margin brownish-grey with a reddish tinge ; there are 

 two double basal lines ; the claviform is represented as a short black 

 mark, the reniform and orbicular pale, outlined in black ; an indistinct 

 wavy line just outside the reniform, and a row of seven small, black 

 wedge-shaped spots on a pale transverse line parallel to hind margin ; a 

 short costal streak just outside the reniform. Posterior wings white 

 with a row of faint blackish dots on nervures." Fig. 703 is the 

 underside of 702, and has a transverse line on each wing, and a reddish 

 central spot. The description of fig. 702 exactly agrees with some of 

 my Lincoln coast specimens, and these alone (with the exception of 

 two Yorkshire specimens) show any really good development of the 

 wedge-shaped spots. It is rarely, too, that dots are developed on the 

 hind wings, although some of my specimens show distinct traces of 



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