IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 99 



figs. 680-681). Dr. Staudinger gives it, with doubt, as belonging to 

 pronuba var. innuba, and remarks : " Ab. pallida, an comes ab. (?) " 

 (' Catalog,' p. 81). The absence of the lunule seems to have misled him 

 into placing it with pronuba. Guenee writes of it : " I have not seen 

 it in nature, and I do not know whether or not it forms a distinct 

 species. After the figure of Hiibner, the wings are more elongate in 

 shape, the cellular lunule of the hind wings is entirely absent ; the 

 superior wings are of a yellow-ochreous tint, with the markings clear, 

 and the terminal outer margin darker " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 320). 

 Treitschke writes of this variety : " Of connuba, Hb., I dare not pro- 

 nounce a decided judgment, as I have not found them in nature, yet I 

 think that it might be a var. allied to adsequa " (' Die Schmet.' &c., 

 vol. v., p. 256). I have specimens without the lunule on the hind 

 wings from Deal and other localities. Mr. Gregson writes : " Of this 

 species I have two specimens without the central lunule on the under 

 wings, the colour of the under wings of one of them being light yellow, 

 both are bred specimens " (' Entomologist,' vol. iv., p. 53). 



/?. var. subsequa, Haw. This is a sub-variety of prosequa, Tr., in 

 which the black border to the hind wings is very narrow. Haworth 

 writes of it : " N. alis hepatico-fuscis punctato strigatis ; posticis per- 

 luteis, lunula centrali fasciaque postica nigris." " Praecedenti (orbona, 

 Haw.) forte varietas, differt vix, nisi in fascia posticarum alarum nigra 

 parum angustiore, et minus terminali quam in ilia " (' Lepidoptera 

 Britannica,' p. 161). 



y. var. subsequa, Curt. Guenee writes of this variety : " Of a 

 burnt-brown colour, with the stigmata contiguous and the nervures 

 paler" ('Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 320). This, like prosequa, Tr., is also 

 a sub-variety of the type, having the same reddish-brown colour, but 

 with united stigmata. 



8. var. prosequa, Tr. Guenee writes : " This is the opposite to 

 connuba, Hb., the designs being strongly marked, the ground colour 

 of the wings dark brown, with the pale scales which border the trans- 

 verse lines very apparent " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 320). Dr. 

 Staudinger writes of it : " Obscurior, distinctius variegata " (' Catalog,' 

 p. 81). Treitschke writes of it : " Ked-brown, marked more distinctly 

 with dark brown, sprinkled with white (= prosequa, Och.) " (< Die 

 Schmet.' &c., vol. v., p. 256). This is closely allied to Hufnagel's 

 type, but is more variegated with darker markings. 



c. var. virgata, mihi. This form has the anterior wings of a red- 

 dish-brown colour like the type, but with the transverse shade, which 

 is sometimes slightly developed in other varieties, formed into a distinct 

 dark central band. A specimen resembling in some degree this form, 

 is figured ' Entom.,' xxii., pi. vi., fig. G. 



Triphcena, Och., pronuba, L. 



The Linnsean description of this common and variable species is 

 as follows : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alis incumbentibus griseis ; 

 inferioribus luteis, fascia atra submarginali " (' Systema Naturae,' 10th 

 Edition, p. 512). The best example of this unicolorous grey type that 

 I have seen was captured in Wicken, but the form appears to be rare. 

 The variation in the colour of this species is only a little less than that 

 in orbona. This species is not only very variable in ground colour 

 but also in the development of the markings. The former varies from 

 pale greyish-ochreous to deep blackish-brown, the latter from almost 



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