102 VARIETIES OF NOCTILS 



lines indistinct, the collar and the costa concolorous with the rest of 

 the wing. The orbicular (reniform?) is generally partly filled in 

 with brown. One finds more males than females of this variety " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 321). The name is now restricted to those 

 dark reddish or brownish-black specimens of the unicolorous form 

 which is generally so abundant with us. Treitschke's diagnosis of this 

 variety is as follows : " Triphcena alis anticis hepaticis ; posticis 

 flavis, fascia submarginali (a variety of the former, T. pronuba)" 

 As in var. brunnea, there are two sub-vars. of innuba. One, in 

 which the dark blackish-red ground colour has a pale ochreous costa 

 and transverse lines, with the space between the stigmata more intensely 

 dark and the area under the stigmata more mottled = ochrea-innuba ; 

 the other, in which these parts are grey = grisea-innuba. 



e. var. ccerulescens, mini. A comparatively rare and pretty varietj' 

 of the unicolorous form has the ground colour of a clear slaty-grey, 

 with the characteristic short black costal streak near apex, and lower 

 part of reniform rather darker, the orbicular rather lighter. A sub- var. 

 also occurs in which the costa, transverse lines, orbicular and shading 

 under the stigmata are of the same slaty-grey colour, but the reniform, 

 quadrate spot between stigmata, a wedge-shaped mark beyond orbicular 

 and parts of the inner margin of the wing, together with the areas 

 between the outer margin, subterminal and elbowed lines are darker 

 = sub- var. distincta-ccerulescens. 



. var. hoegei, H.-S. This variety is peculiar in having a black 

 lunule to the hind wings, thus copying as it were its ally orbona. 

 Dr. Staudinger says of it : " Minor, al. post. mac. media nigra " 

 (' Catalog,' p. 81). Herrich-Schaffer writes : " Triphcena pronuba var. 

 hoegei. Of this variety, which came from Herr Hoge in Hamburg, 

 and was reared entirely from the egg, all the examples agree in the main 

 in being small, and having a black spot in the centre of the hind wings. 

 I do not know whether it should be considered a new species, otherwise 

 I can only conjecture that it is a hybrid between pronuba and 

 subsequa" (<Neue Schmet.' &c., 117-8). 



Graphiphora, Och., augur, Fab. 



The Fabrician description of this species is as follows : " Noctua 

 cristata alis incumbentibus fuscis : characteribus atris." " Caput et 

 thorax fusca, immaculata collari erecto, cristato. Alse anticas fuscse 

 characteribus variis strigaque postica ex arcubus atris ; posticse fuscae, 

 immaculatse. Subtus omnes grisese posticis puncto centrali strigaque 

 postica fuscis " (' Entomologia Systematica ' &c., p. 66, No. 170). I con- 

 sider the American haruspica nothing but a form of augur. Mr. Butler 

 writes : " G. haruspica, though very closely allied to G. augur, differs 

 in being constantly much darker and usually larger " (' Trans. Ent. 

 Soc. Lond., 1889, p. 382). Guenee says : " American specimens are 

 larger than ours (in France), but do not otherwise differ from them " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 325). We get two distinct dark forms in 

 Britain, a reddish-brown form (the type) and a dark grey form (var. 

 hippophaes, Hb.). These two dark forms appear to be equally dis- 

 tributed in this country. There is also a much paler reddish form, 

 which is only occasionally captured in this country. This is the omega 

 of Esper. 



a. var. hippophaes, Hb.-Gey. This greyer form is well pictured 

 by Geyer. " The anterior wings greyish-brown with the basal and 



