IK THE BKITISH ISLANDS. 75 



8. var. obscura, mihi. The anterior wings of the male dull 

 greyish-fuscous, as in some of the females, with the basal area, and 

 costal patch containing reniform, darker, scarcely a trace of the double 

 elbowed row of black dots or the row of pale dots near the hind 

 margin ; hind wings not clear white as is generally the case with the 

 males, but dull greyish-white. Altogether this is a most obscure and 

 unicolorous male variety. Godart says : " In the male the base of 

 the costa is shaded with blackish, but sometimes individuals of this 

 sex approach the colour of the females, as in fig. 440 a of Engramelle." 

 I have only one specimen of this variety, which was taken with the 

 other varieties at Deal. I have a $ from Deal of a much paler 

 ground colour than males of this variety. 



e. var. nigra, mihi. Nigra is the extreme form of the female, as 

 obscura is the extreme form of the male. The ground colour black, 

 with the transverse lines, reniform and orbicular, marked in with 

 more intense black, no pale patches, but the orbicular marked out in 

 pale. I have female specimens, in which even the orbicular outline is 

 unicolorous with the rest of of the wing. Hind wings dark grey with 

 (generally, but not always) the base paler. 



Agrotis, Och., cinerea, Hb. 



The type of this most interesting and variable species was figured 

 by Hiibner. His fig. 155 may be described as a " $ , of a pale ashy- 

 grey colour, with an abbreviated, followed by a complete, black wavy 

 transverse basal line ; no claviform ; orbicular a tiny black dot ; 

 reniform outlined in black ; a dark shade extends from the costa to the 

 top of the reniform, and another from the base of the reniform to the 

 inner margin ; there is a wavy black line directly beyond the reniform, 

 and a row of black dots parallel to the hind margin. Hind wings 

 white, darker on outer margin." His fig. 156 is a $ , and has " the 

 anterior wings rather of a purplish than ashy-grey, much lined 

 transversely with black. The extreme basal area is black, followed by 

 a pale area through which the black transverse basal line passes ; 

 the orbicular absent, the reniform indistinct ; a black transverse band 

 extends from the costa to the inner margin between reniform and 

 orbicular areas ; directly beyond reniform a wavy transverse line, 

 outlined broadly with pale on either side ; this is followed by another 

 broad blackish line, and then by a fine wavy line cutting off the hind 

 marginal area. Hind wings grey, darker on margin, with distinct dark 

 transverse line and lunule " (' Sammlung europaischer Schmet.' &c., 

 figs. 155-156). Of this species Guene'e writes: "It varies much, 

 above all the males, which are sometimes of a deep testaceous, 

 sometimes whitish, sometimes tinted with reddish. Obscura, Hb., 

 157-490, is generally considered as a variety, but it is difficult to say 

 precisely of what the variation consists " (' Noctuelles.' vol. v., p. 282). 

 In our British specimens there appear to be two principal forms of the 

 male one, pale, without the transverse median shade (through 

 reniform), the other, with this shade well developed with every kind 

 of intermediate form. The females also exhibit two principal forms- 

 one, ashy-grey like the ordinary males, with the median shade as in 

 that sex, the other, almost unicolorous blackish = var. obscura ^ of 

 Hiibner. The median shade is always reddish, sometimes it contains 

 the reniform, whilst at other times it passes between the stigmata 



