146 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJB 



pretty pale rosy (wewosa-coloured) specimens from Wicken and S. 

 Anne 's-on- Sea. 



8. var. rosea-sparsus, mihi. Sometimes the speckled specimens 

 are tinted entirely with reddish, and form a parallel variety to sparsus, 

 Haw., as Guenee's var. pattida does to Stephens' var. of the same name. 

 My specimens of this form have come from S. Anne's-on-Sea and 

 Ireland. 



e. var. rufescens, Ckll. A very dark red-brown form of gracilis, with 

 distinct stigmata, which is rather sparingly distributed in our collections, 

 is found in the New Forest and Kent. It is a very beautiful and 

 extreme form, and with a tendency to approach the beautiful var. 

 rufa of instabilis in colour. A very fine series from the New Forest was 

 exhibited by Mr. Percy Bright at the City of London Entomological 

 Society (as noted in the < Entomologist's Record ' &c., i., p. 216), when 

 a series from Kent was also exhibited by Mr. Boden. It is also 

 recorded from Rannoch, by Mr. Carrington, in ' Proc. Sth. Lon. Ent. 

 Soc.,' 1886, p. 35. 



. var. brunnea, mihi. This is an extreme form of var. rufa, in 

 which the red coloration has become a dull red-brown. This form is 

 very rare. I have only seen specimens from the New Forest. 



Tceniocampa, Gn., populeti, Fab. 



This species has nothing like the extreme range of colour variation 

 of some of the allied species, but it varies, nevertheless, from a com- 

 paratively pale grey to an almost absolute black, although I have only 

 seen one specimen of the latter coloration, and that was given to me 

 by Dr. Chapman. The basal lines are generally distinct, whilst the 

 orbicular and reniform vary from perfect obsolescence to distinct pale- 

 ringed stigmata ; occasionally they are united, but the orbicular is 

 rarely so distinctly marked or so noticeable as the reniform. The 

 elbowed line is occasionally obsolete, but sometimes consists 

 of a double wavy black line. The subterminal line varies also in a 

 similar manner, from perfect obsolescence to a pale line bordered by 

 a series of dots, sometimes black and sometimes red. Of this species 

 Guenee writes : " This species differs markedly from instabilis by its 

 pectinated antenna, and from stabilis by its purplish-ash colour ; the 

 subterminal, much less marked, is preceded by small black dots rarely 

 contiguous ; the reniform is always very distinct, entirely filled in with 

 blackish-grey " &c. (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 353). Guenee also adds : 

 " Treitschke places here the B. donasa, Esp., pi. 52, fig. 7, but I dare 

 not thus establish it ; it only resembles our populeti in its pectinated 

 antennae. On the other hand, Engramelle figures a specimen, sent by 

 Esper himself, under this name, to M. Gerning, which belongs 

 evidently to gracilis " (/. c. pp. 353-354). The type of this species 

 is thus described by Fabricius : " Bombyx alis incumbentibus griseo 

 nitidis : striga postica punctorum nigrorum." " In medio ala3 macula 

 ordinaria, reniformis, pallida, postice striga fere obsoleta e punctis 

 tribus aut quatuor " (' Entomologia systematica ' &c., p. 476). The 

 subplumbeus of Haworth is also the type. Haworth's diagnosis is : 

 " Alis plumbescentibus griseo subnebulosis, striga obsoleta postica e 

 punctis griseis extus pallido adnatis " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 121). 



The following table comprises the varieties known to me : 



1. Grey, with indistinct or obsolete stigmata and strigse = var. obsoleta. 

 la. Grey, with well-marked strigas and one or two dots on subtermi- 

 nal = populeti, Fab. 



