IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 89 



Of this variety Staudinger writes : " var. incarnata, non cserulea " 

 (' Catalog,' p. 81). He refers Herrich-Schaffer's glaciaUs to this, from 

 which indeed it only differs in the development of the cuneiform 

 spots. This is not at all an uncommon Scotch form. 



. var. glaciaUs, H.-S. Herrich-Schaffer's figures may be described 

 as follows: Fig. 421. " $ . Anterior wings unicolorous pinky-red, 

 with an abbreviated, followed by a complete basal pale grey line ; 

 orbicular but little paler than the ground colour, surrounded with 

 fuscous ; reniform of ground colour, its inner lower edge white ; space 

 between orbicular and reniform darker ; the elbowed line pale grey, 

 formed of lunules ; the area beyond the obsolete subterminal line 

 greyer." Fig. 422 = under side of 421. Fig. 423. " $. Anterior wings 

 dull greyish-red, with rather darker central area but no quadrate spots ; 

 there is a complete row of black cuneiform spots. Hind wings grey, 

 base paler as in fig. 421 " ( Systematische Bearbeitung,' figs. 421-423). 

 This red form without cuneiform spots appears to be rarer in Scotland 

 than the corresponding variety in which they are developed. Guenee 

 writes that " this form differs from the preceding (carnica, Gn.) in its 

 red colour." 



Lycophotia, Hb., strigula, Thnb. 



The type of this species is described by Thunberg in the Museum 

 Naturalium ' &c., p. 72, No. 19, where we find : " Strigula. Cristata 

 alis deflexis ferrugineis postice albo-striatis, fasciis tribus undatis 

 albis; lineola punctis duobus stigmatibusque albis." He also adds : 

 " Habitat in Suecica. Missa ex Hollandia, sub nomine Noctuce arnicas 

 by Osbeck." This species is generally known in Britain by Hiibner's 

 name porphyrea. The latter name has been used by many European 

 authors, but strigula was substituted in Staudinger's ' Catalog,' p. 79. 

 Hiibner's porphyrea is like Thunberg's strigula, a " bright red form 

 with white markings " (' Sammlung europaischer Schmet.,' fig. 93), 

 but his figure 473 is smaller and greyer. Of this species Guenee 

 writes : " It is truly inconceivable how a species so easily recognised 

 has received so many different names " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 295). 

 It is the ericce of Haworth, who calls it a " pulcherrima species " and 

 the birivia of Borkhausen, who describes it as " reddish-brown with 

 white markings." 



There are besides the bright red type the following forms: 

 1. Very pale red, with paler markings = var. marmorea, Gras. 

 2. Small, dark purplish-red, with a slaty tinge varia, Vill. = 



concinna, Esp. 

 3. Large, basal part reddish-black, outer dark red, pale lines partly 



suppressed = var. suffusa. 



a. var. marmorea, Gras. Graslin thus describes the type of this 

 variety : " Multum similis est porphyrece, sed diversis characteribus 

 differt: colore cinereo-subfusco, linea extrabasilari inferne producta 

 usque ad lineam incurvam ; et praacipue antennis, conspicillo spectatis : 

 denticulis valde productis, articulis sursum dilatatis " (' Ann. Soc. Ent. 

 de France,' 1863, p. 312). M. Graslin then compares it with 

 porphyrea and writes : " At first sight it is much less bright in colour 

 than porphyrea, not being, like that species, of a porphyry-red colour. 

 The ground colour is greyish-brown with a red tint, and the markings, 

 instead of being in white, are greyish-white. The only parts of the 

 upper wings which have a tint approaching porphyry are the two 



