160 VARIETIES Otf NOCTtLB 



lined in black " (< Die Schmet. in Abbildungen,' p. 463, pi. 145, fig. 

 2). I would keep Esper's name for all the red forms of this species, 

 independent of the special development of the claviform, which is a 

 most inconstant character, and present more or less in all the varieties. 

 I have specimens from Greenwich, Deal and Burton-on-Trent. 



/?. var. nigrescens, mihi. This is Haworth's var. /3, of which he 

 writes : " Alis anticis nigricantibus, posticis f uscis, cseteris ut in a 

 (fissipuncta), at saturatioribus " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 197). I 

 have specimens of this dark variety from Greenwich and Deal, and 

 intermediate forms from Burton-on-Trent. 



y. var. variegata, mihi. Although difficult to describe in words, 

 so different is the general appearance of this variety that, when I first 

 captured it, I was unable to say for a considerable time to what species 

 it belonged. The ground colour approaches var. nigrescens in tint, 

 but is somewhat purplish ; the costa is marked with a series of short 

 black streaks ; the orbicular and upper part of the reniform are very 

 pale ; the claviform is also pale ; the nervures pale, with the spaces 

 between of the darker ground colour, causing it to have a somewhat 

 striated appearance ; the basal lines pale ; the elbowed indistinct ; the 

 subterminal also pale. All my specimens of this variety have come 

 from Sandwich and Deal. 



Orthosia, Och. 



The two species of this genus bear a strong superficial resemblance 

 in shape and general contour, despite their great difference in colour, and 

 are characterised by a distinct black dot formed by the filling in of 

 the lower part of the reniform. In macilenta, this dot is found in 

 about 50-80 per cent, of the total number of specimens, whilst in lota 

 the dot is very rarely absent, although in some very dark specimens from 

 Sligo, and in a few pale specimens from other localities it is either not 

 marked or so indistinct as not to be noticeable, but it is very rarely this 

 is the case. In Anchocelis helvola, which seems to be a connecting link 

 between Orthosia proper and Anchocelis, there are traces of the dot, 

 but, in the remaining members of the genus, it is rarely present even 

 in a modified form. 



Orthosia, Och., lota, 01. 



This species varies very considerably, especially in ground colour. 

 The greater number of specimens are of a dark grey, but this varies in 

 opposite directions, in some specimens producing quite a melanic 

 colour, in others, a very pale grey, whilst a very red form is not at all 

 uncommon. The lower part of the reniform is filled in as a black 

 dot which is very conspicuous and is rarely absent ; the dark central 

 shade is generally traceable but never very distinct ; the abbreviated 

 basal line is generally confined to two dots, the complete basal line 

 indistinct ; the claviform generally obsolete ; the elbowed line some- 

 times absent, at others, slightly traceable, with a row of minute dots 

 in contact with it ; the orbicular, reniform and subterminal generally 

 outlined in reddish or ochreous. Newman writes of this species : 

 " The colour of the fore wings is dull leaden-brown, or dull ochreous- 

 brown, the two shades being equally common ; and there are also 

 other intermediates of less frequent occurrence ; the discoidal spots have 

 a very slender pale circumscription, and outside of this a slender brick- 

 red circumscription, the lower half of the reniform is almost black ; 

 parallel with the hind margin is an oblique compound line, the inner 



