138 VARIETIES OF NOCTILB 



stigmata, which are ordinarily obsolete, but occasionally distinct and 

 of a greyer hue than the rest of the wing, and slightly encircled with 

 white. Near the apical margin of the wing is a pale striga, edged 

 with brown on the inside, and rather elbowed near the costa, where 

 the joints of the antennae of the male have the sides angulated and 

 setose. The varieties are very numerous. That named subsetacea (us) 

 by Haworth, has the wings ashy, clouded with grey, and three grey 

 lunules attached to the posterior whitish lunule. The N. nebulosa (us), 

 Haw. has the wings hoary-grey, with two reddish-brown strigse, and 

 a terminal one formed of three sub-triangular spots. Noctua fuscata (us), 

 Haw. has the fore wings blackish, with the two stigmata encircled 

 with white rings, and a sub-apical, slightly undulated, pale striga ; 

 and JV. angusta (us), Haw. has the wings varied with livid and brown 

 colours, and with the stigmal circles and apical strigae less distinct 

 than in the preceding variety " (' British Moths,' pp. 134-135) ; whilst 

 Newman writes : " The wings are very different in colour and 

 markings, the ground colour varying to almost every shade of 

 ferruginous-brown and grey-brown, sometimes plain and almost 

 unicolorous, at others mottled and marbled; the discoidal spots are 

 usually entire, their circumscription clearly defined in pale grey, 

 almost white ; and there is also usually a very distinct pale line 

 parallel with the hind margin ; this is slightly irregular, scarcely so 

 much so as to be called zigzag : the costal margin is usually paler and 

 interrupted with darker spots ; and there is generally a median 

 transverse cloud. Notwithstanding the general occurrence of these 

 markings, in some of my specimens they are scarcely perceptible, and 

 in others entirely absent : the hind wings are grey-brown, the discoidal 

 spot being distinctly darker and of a crescentic form ; the fringe is 

 paler " (' British Moths,' pp. 358-359). Of a most interesting experiment 

 made by Mr. Fenn, by which he reared a very pale brood of varieties 

 of this species, chiefly vars. pallida and nebulosus, we read : " In 

 April, 1890, I took a ? T. instabilis at sallow bloom, and noting her to 

 be a very pale variety, I reserved her for oviposition, and she laid the 

 remainder of her eggs. I reared a number of these as far as the pupa 

 stage ; and the large garden pot in which the Iarva3 went down was 

 placed out of doors in a shady spot with a north-east aspect, about the 

 very coldest place I could discover. The pot was exposed to the very 

 severe temperature of the recent long frost, and from its position 

 must have frequently been subjected to 30 of frost. The earth it 

 contained, with the pupa?, was frozen hard for over six weeks. About 

 January 23rd, when the frost had broken up, I removed the pot indoors 

 and sorted out the pupa3, of which there were about five dozens, and I 

 was glad to find that not one of them had succumbed to the cold. Laid 

 in damp sand in a very cold room with an eastern aspect, and where 

 no fire is ever lighted, these pupa? soon began to show signs of life. 

 The first moth was bred on February 3rd, and to the present date at 

 least 40 have emerged. Considering the temperature of the room 

 where they were kept, they are at least six weeks in advance of their 

 usual time. The moths bred follow to a great extent the variation of 

 the parent $ , and I have many very lovely pale grey, pinkish-grey, 

 and other light forms ; among them, of course, are a few of the 

 ordinary type, the dark-reddish brown, and even these vary in 

 intensity and markings. Not a single black specimen has emerged, 

 although it is a very common form here. The larvae were fed on 



