144 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJE 



My specimens have come from Wakefield, Bolton and S. Anne's-on- 

 Sea. 



P. var. grisra, mihi. This is the palest variety of the species, 

 and is the form generally obtained in England, where the purplish- 

 tinged forms are rare. Guene'e says of this variety, which he calls 

 var. A : " This is the English form. It is of a more yellowish- 

 grey, with smoky-brown markings, the stigmata more distinct and 

 more clearly surrounded with ochreous ; the subterminal line is 

 broader, more yellow, a little more broken on the costal margin " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol, v., p. 353). This is, perhaps, our commonest British 

 form. I have specimens as nearly as possible unicolorous, pale-grey, 

 without any trace of markings, but grisea, generally, has slight traces 

 of a median shade. My specimens have come from Birkenhead, York, 

 Bolton and S.-Anne's-on-Sea. 



y. var. virgata-grisea, mihi. This is a modification of var. grisea ; 

 the more or less ill-developed median shade in the latter being, in this, 

 developed into a broad central band extending from the basal to the 

 elbowed line and enclosing the stigmata ; otherwise the basal and 

 outer areas are of the same pale greyish colour. It is a rarer form 

 than the last. I have specimens from Morpeth and Darlington. 



8. var. intermedia) mihi. The smoky-brown central shade of the 

 last variety, in this, infuses the whole area of the wing, which thus 

 becomes of a greyish, smoky-brown coloration, without the deep brown 

 of the following varieties. My specimens have come from York, 

 S. Anne's-on-Sea, Bolton and Darlington. 



e. var. brunnea, mihi. This is a much darker variety, the ground 

 colour being of a deep brown, with the stigmata outlined in paler, and 

 the subterminal also paler throughout its length. This is the more 

 common of our two darkest varieties. My specimens have come from 

 Darlington, Bolton, Morpeth and Wallasey. 



f. var. unicolor, mihi. This is the darkest and most unicolorous 

 of the varieties of the species, even the pale outline to the stigmata 

 and the pale subterminal line blending here with the dark ground 

 colour. It is a rather uncommon form, and much rarer than var. 

 Irunnea. My specimens have come from Morpeth, Wallasey, Wakeneld 

 and Darlington. 



Tceniocampa, Gn., gradlis, Fab. 



The variation of this species is, perhaps, less understood than 

 that of any other in the genus.- Most of our British specimens are 

 greyish- white, more or less sprinkled with tiny black dots ; occa- 

 sionally a specimen that has an orange or rosy tint occurs in localities 

 where the paler forms are common ; but it is only in a few isolated 

 localities in Kent and around the New Forest, that the dark brown 

 and bright red-brown forms of gradlis occur. Of these dark forms, 

 Esper gives a figure which may possibly refer to this species, under 

 the name of collinita, but he refers to and gives Fabricius' description 

 of gradlis, in connection with the figure. The diagnosis of Fabricius 

 is : " Noctua laevis, alis deflexis fusco cinereis : striga undata fusca 

 baseos, flavescenteque apicis, intermedia punctata." "Noctua fere 

 indistincta. Alas obscure, basi striga nigricante, in medio maculse 

 ordinance fere obsoletse, pone has striga e punctis nigris, aliaque 

 flavescens. Postica3 subtus albidaB striga punctorum nigrorum " 

 (< Mantissa,' p. 148, No. 98). In general variation the following points 



