78 VARIETIES OF NOCTtLS 



ashworthii. It differs from the latter in being without the dark 

 quadrate spot between the stigmata, corresponding with fig. 1 in 

 Newman's ' British Moths,' p. 337. It is figured by Stainton in the 

 ' Annual ' for 1855, Plate i, fig. 2, without the black quadrate spot 

 between the stigmata which is characteristic of ashworthii. It is 

 undoubtedly synonymous with the var. jotunensis, Schoyen. The latter 

 author thus describes his variety : " Three particularly dark specimens 

 (of canddarum) were taken by me from the 2nd to 5th of August, 1885, at 

 Roisheim in Baverdalen, at the northern entrance to Jotunheimen. 

 The size is about that of the Swiss specimens, but the colour is very 

 dark violet-grey, which gives them a very different appearance, and 

 forms a contrast to the light var. signata, Stdgr. The species has been 

 found in Sweden, in Oland and Upland " (' Further additions to the 

 Norwegian Lepidoptera,' W. M. Schoyen, Christiania, 1888). 



y. var. ashworthii, Doubleday. The beautiful British variety of 

 candelarum was named ashworthii by Doubleday. His description is : 

 " Alis anticis cinereis, strigis tribus denticulatis atris, macula quadrata 

 nigra inter stigmata, posticis fuscis (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 5-8 lin.)." 

 " Anterior wings cinereous, powdered with black atoms, with three 

 denticulated strigae arising from black spots on the costa ; one near the 

 base, a second before, and a third beyond the middle of the wing. 

 Between the stigmata (which are very indistinct) is a quadrate black 

 spot, and another between the anterior stigma and the second striga ; 

 a fuscous cloud crosses the centre of the wing as in Tceniocampa 

 populeti, T. instabilis, etc. ; cilia fuscous. Posterior wings fuscous in 

 both sexes with the cilia paler ; head whitish ; thorax cinereous ; 

 abdomen pale fuscous, white towards the base." Mr. Doubleday then 

 goes on to give particulars as to the first capture of this variety. He 

 writes : " This pretty species, which appears to be quite unknown upon 

 the Continent, was discovered at Llangollen, North Wales, by Mr. 

 Ash worth, in the summer of 1853, and the specimen forwarded to me 

 for inspection. Last summer, many specimens were taken by Messrs. 

 Cooke, Gregson, etc., as noticed in Mr. Stainton's ' Entomologist's 

 Annual,' where the insect is figured under the name of Spcelotis vallesiaca. 

 The figure, however, is by no means good, the anterior wings being much 

 too broad. I forwarded a specimen of the male and a drawing of the 

 female to my friend, Mr. Guenee, and he says he believes it to be quite 

 new, I have therefore named it after its discoverer. It is closely allied 

 to A. lucernea, A. decora, etc." (< Zoologist,' 1855, p. 4749). Mr. W. 

 Gardner writes ('Entom.,' xxiii.,p. 7): "The indescribably beautiful 

 dove-colour of the fore wings of the perfect insect has already been 

 alluded to. As in so many other living things, this ebbs away sadly 

 with the life of the insect. Across the wings run three wavy dark 

 lines ; between the second and third is a rich brown shade, very much 

 enlarged in the female, almost absent in the male ; within this patch 

 of colour the orbicular and reniform are more or less conspicuous, 

 according to the intensity of the shade ; the hind wings are smoky- 

 grey ; and the head, thorax, and body, pale blue-grey like the fore 

 wings. Though simple and quiet in colouring, the imago of Agrotis 

 ashworthii, like its larva, is at once beautiful and striking, and cannot 

 possibly be mistaken for any other British species." 



8- var. virgata, mihi. This is an extreme form of var. ashworthii, 

 with the central transverse shade extending from the costa to the inner 



