4 VARIETIES OF NOCTIUE 



figure has the costal area and transverse lines dark red brown with the 

 subterminal area and central area ochreous. Hiibner's fig. 177 is of 

 a reddish-brown, but much paler between the elbowed line and outer 

 margin. This form has almost always very pale nervures. 



. var. unicolor, mihi. This is the extreme obsolete form of this 

 species and very difficult to separate from ligula and its vars. It is 

 unicolorous blackish-red, but has the nervures rather paler. There 

 are thus three almost unicolorous vars. in this species (I) bright 

 reddish = var. rufa, (2) dark reddish = raccinii, Linn, (8) black = var. 

 unicolor. The greater width of the wing and the absence of the 

 concavity below the apex on the outer margin, separates this variety 

 from the next species. 



7]. var. suffma, mihi. This is one of the most striking varieties of 

 vaccinii, and has the ground colour of the normal reddish-ochreous 

 showing on the extreme outer margin, and less clearly on the base, 

 but the central area, around the stigmata, of a deep slaty or greyish- 

 black. It appears to be a rare variety. Occasionally the black 

 occupies the whole area of the wing from the base to the elbowed or 

 subterminal line. I have seen such a specimen belonging to the Rev. 

 J. Greene, as also one or two others. 



6. var. obscura, mihi. The whole area of the wing has lost its 

 ochreous or reddish ground colour and become of a greyish or greyish- 

 black tint, the nervures, outlines of the stigmata &c., being generally 

 very pale. The variety is rare. 



Orrhodia, Hb., ligula, Esp. 



This is the species known as spadicea in England, the name 

 ligula being that commonly used in all countries on the Continent. It 

 is the spadicea of Guenee who writes : " This species, which is very 

 distinct from vaccinii may be recognised by the following characters : 

 the superior wings are most pointed at the apex and hollowed out 

 more distinctly on the outer edge ; of an uniform deep ferruginous 

 colour, with the lines of a deep reddish-brown ; often shaded with 

 ashy-grey. The inferior wings are of a deep blackish, sometimes 

 paler on the outer edge, but always traversed by a pale median line ; 

 with the fringe reddish " (' Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 381). The type is 

 very rare in Britain, specimens rarely occurring with a white sub- 

 terminal band, the white of the Continental forms being here 

 generally replaced by bright ochreous. As Staudinger remarks, that 

 part of Treitschke's extract (quoted under 0. vaccinii), refers to typical 

 ligula when he says : " forma nigricans, exterius albido-fasciata." 

 The type is described by Esper as : " Alis deflexis superioribus fusco- 

 ruf escentibus ; ligula marginali repanda alba, punctis nigris divisa " 

 (' Die Schmet in Abbildungen ' &c., p. 595J. Esper then goes on to 

 say : " Ground colour dark red-brown " &c., whilst the figure to 

 which this description refers, has " the narrow and pointed anterior 

 wings of a dark, almost black coloration, with a transverse white band 

 in contact with the subterminal, the nervures pale, breaking up the 

 transverse lines" (1. c. pi. 166, fig. 3). The principal forms appear to 

 be the following, the ground colour in all being of a dark chestnut or 

 dark ferruginous, sometimes very strongly inclining to black : 



1. Pale basal and elbowed lines, pale nervures, whitish subterminal 

 band = ligula, Esp. 



