IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 127 



(' Noctuelles/ vol. v., p. 326). The pale costa stands out very 

 conspicuously, and gives the species quite a character of its own. The 

 stigmata, too, are usually of the same pale shade as the costa, and slight 

 variations in the shape of the orbicular, and in the way it joins the costal 

 streak, give rise to peculiar forms. Sometimes, however, the stigmata 

 merge into the ground colour, the orbicular being especially liable in 

 this respect. The extreme form produced by the obliteration of the 

 orbicular would appear to be the unimacula of Staudinger. 



a. var. anderssoni, Lampa. The violet-brown variety of this 

 species is described under this name as follows : " Framvingarne 

 rnorkt violettbruna, nastan violettsvarta, blott framre medianstammen 

 vid basen samt de bada flackarnes kanter hvitgulaktiga. Sverige ; Da- 

 larne ; Saterdalen ; flera ex. funna af Andersson" (' Entomologisk 

 Tidskrift,' 1885, p. 54). 



? /3. var. unimacula, Stdgr. Under this name Staudinger adds a 

 doubtful variety of this species in the ' Stett. ent. Zeit.,' 1859, p. 213, 

 which is without an orbicular stigma. In his 'Catalog,' p. 84, he 

 writes : " Macula orbiculari nulla." There is considerable variation 

 in the development of the orbicular. I have two specimens in my 

 series with only the faintest trace of orbicular stigmata ; one so far 

 obliterated, that it may be looked upon as obsolete. 



Noctua, Linn., flammatra, Fab. 



The type of this, one of our rarest British NOCTUA, is thus 

 described by Fabricius : " Noctua cristata alis incumbentibus griseis : 

 linea flexuosa baseos nigra, thorace fascia atra." " Affinis N. exclama- 

 tionis. Corpus cinereum fascia lata abbreviate thoracis atra. Alas 

 anticaa griseaa linea magna baseos flexuosa atra. In medio macula} 

 ordinarias macula fusca distinctas" ('Mantissa,' p. 155, No. 147). 

 Guenee adds a var. A from Brazil, and writes of it : " Much larger 

 (it attains almost 55 mm.), but does not differ otherwise from European 

 examples " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 328). 



5. Family : Orthosidce, Gn. 



This family of the NOCTU^E appears to exhibit no very strong 

 affinities between some of its constituent genera, and yet to a great 

 extent others of them are closely allied. Dr. Staudinger places it 

 between the Caradrinidce and Xylinidce, but there is little doubt that 

 the affinities of some of the group are rather with Agrotis (in the broader 

 acceptation of the term). Among its genera, Pachnobia is especially 

 closely allied to Hadena or Mamestra, and Dr. Chapman has suggested 

 (' Ent. Record ' &c., vol. ii., p. 12) the removal of the two British 

 members of the genus from their present location altogether. Tcenio- 

 campa is an excessively variable genus, and contains some of the most 

 polymorphic of the whole of the NOCTUJB gothica, instabilfs, and, to a 

 lesser extent, stabilis and munda are striking examples. Of the two 

 Dy schoristce, suspecta is exceptionally variable, whilst Ancliocelis pista- 

 cina also varies endlessly. The beauty of the Xanthice and their close allies 

 does not prevent X. fulvago and aurago being excessively variable, and 

 Orrhodia (Cerajstis) vaccinii and ligula (spadicea) are not at all satisfac- 

 torily determined in their different forms of variation. There is no 

 striking general tendency to variation in the direction of melanism in 

 the family, but some few species are frequently melanic. The tendency 

 is most noticeable in Tceniocampa. Sexual demorphism is occasionally 



