74 VARIETIES OF 



a. var. renitens, Hb.-Gey. In Hiibner's ' Sammlung europ. Schmet.,' 

 figs. 715, 716, 717, we find the ordinary form of puta, as taken at 

 Deal, under the name of renitens. The male (fig. 715) may be 

 described as " pale grey with the faintest reddish tinge on the costa 

 and hind margin ; the upper half of the basal area black, followed by 

 a double pale transverse line ; orbicular indistinct with a pale central 

 dot ; reniform black ; three short black costal streaks above reniform ; 

 faint wavy line beyond reniform ; another black wavy line parallel to 

 hind margin. Hind wings white, with indistinct lunule." Fig. 716 

 is the underside of 715. Fig. 717 is the female and has " the anterior 

 wings with the basal area black, followed by a faint, double basal 

 line ; a black claviform ; no orbicular ; black reniform joined to costa 

 by black marks ; the space between the reniform and orbicular paler, 

 but under these stigmata is a shade to inner margin, black ; a black 

 wavy line beyond reniform ; hind marginal area, except a narrow space 

 along the costa, dark ; a faint row of dots and a transverse black line 

 parallel to hind margin ; a number of dark marks on extreme hind 

 margin. Hind wings white, outer margin dark grey, lunule distinct." 

 This clear variety of the male with no trace of central shade and the 

 faintest possible tinge of red on hind margin is not uncommon at Deal. 

 I have not met with it elsewhere. 



/3. var. radius, Haw. This is the most common form in the 

 Metropolitan district. It has the ground colour darker and a much 

 more reticulated appearance than the numerous coast specimens I have 

 seen ; the orbicular, too, shows up clearly in the darker ground colour. 

 Haworth describes it as : " Alis grisescentibus, macula quadrata baseos, 

 fimbriaque saturatioribus, in qua strigapallidapunctorum sagittatorum." 

 " Alas superiores pallide fuscescentes stigmatibus tribus ; duobus ante- 

 rioribus parvis radiiformibus ; exteriore magno reniformi. Margo 

 costalis aliquo fusco pallidoque punctata. Alse posticse albicantes " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 119). This variety has, near the outer 

 margin, a well developed row of linear pale spots which form the 

 bases of a row of dark wedge-shaped markings ; the double row of 

 black spots beyond the reniform, almost (and often entirely) absent in 

 renitens, is in this variety well developed. The sub-varieties of our 

 London variety, as given by Mr. Bentley, have been described pre- 

 viously. I have only taken this variety in Shooter's Hill Woods and 

 Greenwich Marshes. 



y. var. lignosa, God. Godart's lignosa is thus described : " The 

 superior wings are grey in the male and of a blackish-brown in the 

 female, with two transverse undulated black lines, which enclose the 

 ordinary stigmata, and a narrow black chevron. The ordinary anterior 

 stigma is oval, filled in with a longitudinal black line and separated 

 from the posterior by a transverse dark shade. The extremity of the 

 wing, which has a reddish tint (particularly in the male), has, towards 

 the margin, a transverse series of small whitish spots. Inferior wings 

 white in the male with the fringe a little brownish. They are darker 

 in the female with the base and fringe whitish " (< Histoire naturelle ' 

 &c., vol. v., pp. 241, 242). This variety is near Hiibner's renitens, 

 but has a central transverse shade not present in the latter, nor does 

 the double row of black dots appear to be present. Dr. Staudinger 

 says of lignosa: " al. ant. obscuris." The variety occurs at Deal 

 with renitens. 



