IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 71 



. var. desertorum, Bdv. The specimens in the British Museum 

 collection under this name, are of a pale greyish- white, very slightly 

 ochreous ; almost unicolorous with the exception of the orbicular, 

 reniform and outer margin, which are rather darker ; the subterminal 

 line composed of pale dots. The specimens came from Sarepta. 

 Guenee describes the type as : " Superior wings narrow, of a greyish- 

 white powdered with blackish scales, with the two median lines, dis- 

 tinct, blackish ; the elbowed line faintly toothed ; the complete basal 

 line irregular and broken j the claviform, small, short and indistinct ; 

 the two median stigmata blackish and more distinct, the reniform 

 usually surrounded with black ; the subterminal line absent or 

 indistinct, a terminal series of black dots ; fringe concolorous. 

 Inferior wings pure white without markings. Antennae a little more 

 ciliated than in ripce" " Southern Russia " (' Noctuelles/ vol. v., p. 

 284). This is treated by Guenee and Dr. Staudinger as a distinct 

 species, but there appears to be no doubt of its being a local form of 

 ripce. 



fj. var. brunnea, mini. The anterior wings of a deep reddish- 

 ochreous tint approaching brown, the ordinary transverse lines and 

 stigmata distinctly marked and fuscous ; the row of cuneiform spots 

 fairly well developed. Hind wings whitish, sometimes with a grey 

 margin. That a " pale-costa " variety of this brown form occurs, 

 appears probable, but I have never seen one. My specimens of var. 

 brunnea came from the Yorkshire coast. 



6. var. grisea, mihi. Anterior wings of a dark grey, much suffused 

 with blackish scales, the whole area with a slight slaty tinge ; the 

 transverse lines and stigmata fuscous, but scarcely traceable owing to 

 the depth of the ground colour ; a row of small whitish dots takes the 

 place of the subterminal line. Hind wings whitish. My specimens 

 came from the Lincolnshire coast. 



Agrotis, Och., spinifera, Hb. (?), Gregson. 



There is a well known continental species of Agrotis, called spini- 

 fera, Hb., found, according to Dr. Staudinger, " in Sicily, Spain, and 

 central France" (' Catalog,' p. 86). A specimen of Agrotis, now in Mr. 

 Sydney Webb's collection, captured in the Isle of Man by Mr. Gregson, 

 was recorded as spinifera by the latter, and of this specimen Mr. Webb 

 writes : " There is no doubt that the spinifera in my cabinet is 

 abundantly distinct from any of our accepted British species. The 

 fore wings are similar to those of puta as to length, but the hind wings 

 are pure white, without a trace of colour either on the margin of the 

 wings or fringes. The stigmata of the fore wings are outlined in dark 

 brown upon the pale ground colour, and probably it was named from 

 the shape of the claviform, which is very long, somewhat sword- 

 shaped ; a dark streak on the disc connects the reniform and orbicular ; 

 some dark dashes proceed inwards from the dark marginal line " (in 

 litt.}. Of the European species of this name Guenee writes : " It is 

 always a very great rarity. The only female that I have seen is 

 decidedly larger than that of Hiibner " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 265). 

 Hiibner's figure thus referred to by Guenee, has the " anterior wings 

 brown with pale ochreous markings ; a pale ochreous streak just under 

 the costa from the base to the apex ; an ochreous patch just under the 

 base of the median nervure reaching to the inner margin and the 



