IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 101 



these two races (vars. ochrea and innuba}. Its characters according to 

 Treitschke would be : " The costa and the collar concolorous, the 

 extra basal lines less arched, the nervures less apparent at their ex- 

 tremities, the stigmata less distinct, the reniform smaller " (' Noctuelles,' 

 v., p. 321). Guenee then adds : " Some of these characters are purely 

 imaginary," and there is no doubt, if they are not imaginary, they are 

 too inconstant to be of use in classification. 



a. var. ochrea, mihi. This greyish-ochreous, almost unicolorous 

 form is much commoner than the grey type. The anterior wings have 

 no dark markings except the short black costal streak near the apex 

 and the inner part of the reniform. The orbicular is sometimes rather 

 paler than the ground colour, but, like the transverse lines, more often 

 unicolorous. I have specimens from several localities. This is 

 Guenee 's var. B, of which he writes : " This race comprises all those 

 specimens in which the thorax and the superior wings are of a yellow 

 or ochreous-testaceous colour, the costa and collar concolorous, and 

 generally of an uniform tint, except the reniform which is darker. 

 The specimens are generally females " ('Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 321). 



P. var. rufa, mihi. One of the most common forms of this species 

 is of a pale reddish-ochreous colour with scarcely any traces of mark- 

 ings, except the short black costal streak, dark shading in the reniform 

 and rather paler orbicular. It appears to occur in all the localities in 

 which I have collected. 



7. var. brunnea, mihi. The anterior wings dark reddish-brown in 

 colour, with the same darker and paler markings as in the last. These 

 are as limited as in that, so that the form is almost unicolorous. It is 

 a very common variety. A sub-variety of this reddish-brown form 

 occurs with distinct ochreous .costa, orbicular and transverse lines ; the 

 whole of the reniform dark, a dark quadrate spot between the stigmata is 

 continued beyond the reniform as a dark wedge-shaped mark, with the 

 inner margin (under the stigmata) also much marbled with darker = 

 sub- var. ochrea-brunnea ; whilst an exactly similar variety but with the 

 pale costa, orbicular and transverse lines grey instead of ochreous = 

 sub-var. yrisea-brunnea. Sometimes these two sub- vars. have a very 

 mottled appearance. 



8. var. innuba, Tr. A peculiar dark and dull reddish-brown form 

 occurs, which has been described by our older entomologists as " liver- 

 coloured." The colour is seen in its best form in our ordinary, unmottled 

 British forms of Xylopliasia hepatica. An unicolorous variety of this 

 form = innuba, Tr. Dr. Staudinger writes of innuba : " Al. ant. 

 thoraceque concoloribus " (' Catalog,' p. 81), but this is useless, as there 

 are several different varieties which satisfy the description. Newman 

 writes : " The beautiful, but not uncommon variety represented in the 

 lower figure, I have been used to call innuba, and it is described under 

 that name by Stephens, but this seems to be an error, for Guenee 

 describes that variety as ' having the costal margin and collar concolor- 

 ous with the upper wings,' whereas, in the innuba of English entomolo- 

 gists, these parts are so much paler as to present a striking contrast " 

 (' British Moths,' p. 343). Of course, Treitschke's var. is an unicolorous 

 form and not one with a pale costa. In Humphrey and Westwood's 

 ' British Moths,' p. 108, we read : " Head, thorax and wings, of an uni- 

 form dark liver-brown." Of his var. A, Guenee writes : " This 

 variety comprises all those specimens in which the superior wings are 

 of a dark hepatic-brown, little, or not at all, mixed with grey, with the 



