IN THE BUTTTRTI ISLANDS. 33 



The female has a very long ovipositor. A very extraordinary variety 

 of this species is figured in Newman's ' British Moths,' but it is not 

 described. This may be the form named D. behenis by Freyer, and 

 which is said to have occurred at Salisbury " ( Young Naturalist,' vol. iv., 

 pp. 182-183). fiehenis is most certainly a variety of cucitbalt, although 

 Stand inger was uncertain whether to refer it to captincola or cucttbali. 

 The strange variety figured in Newman's ' British Moths,' p. 387, fig. 2, 

 appears to be slightly crippled. I have never noticed a variety of the 

 species. 



Dianthcecia, Bdv., cuculmli, Fuessl. 



This beautiful species presents scarcely any variation, at least in 

 our British specimens. Fuessly thus describes the type : " The fore 

 wings dark brown with a light reddish or purplish tint, the pale lines 

 forming a network. Round the orbicular, two yellow parallel lines 

 run from the costa to the middle of the wing, whilst two others run 

 round the reniform, and being turned towards the base, meet the 

 others, forming a triangle, the apex of which is slightly rounded. The 

 spaces contained by these two pairs of lines are continued into the 

 wing, and are at last cut off by a somewhat curved, reddish-lilac 

 coloured line. The subterminal, fine, yellow and zigzag, on which is 

 a row of cuneiform spots " (' Neues Magazin ' &c., ii., 2, p. 218). I 

 have seen no variety of this species. 



a. var. behenis, Frr. This is undoubtedly a var. of cucubalf. It 

 has the natural violet tint of that species, the stigmata contiguous &c., 

 but the costa is slightly pale. Staudinger was uncertain, for he 

 wr ites : " Al. ant. costa alba ; an sequ. (cucubali) ab. ? " ( Catalog,' 

 p. 94). Freyer says of it : " I should take this moth for N. cucubah' f 

 for in size, form, colour and markings, it is scarcely to be distinguished 

 from it, but it differs in having a distinct whitish-yellow line on the 

 costa of the fore wings which extends from the tip right over the 

 reniform and is lost in the pale subterminal line. This light costal 

 border is not found either in cucubali or capsincola, and this induces 

 me to give a special name to this NOCTUA. The fore wings, moreover, 

 are somewhat lighter and rounded off, otherwise it agrees with ciicu- 

 bali ; but the peach-coloured bands are wanting, and the ground colour 

 resembles rather that of capsincola, and it is somewhat similar on the 

 underside. Dr. Nickerl found this NOCTUA in the neighbourhood of 

 Salzburg " (' Neuere Beitrage ' &c., p. 142). This variety in no way 

 resembles the variety of T). capsincola figured in Newman's ' British 

 Moths,' p. 387, fig. 2, as it has simply a pale costal area, and in no way 

 can the pale colour be said to spread into the central area of the 

 wing as in Newman's figure. 



Dianthcrcia, Bdv., albimacnla, Bkh. 



This species was for a long time rare in Britain, until the 

 Folkestone collectors found it in considerable abundance. It offers 

 but little variation, and that chiefly in the quantity of white markings 

 in the anterior wings. The orbicular appears to be always outlined in 

 white, as also does the inner edge of the reniform, the outer edge of the 

 latter is also sometimes similarly outlined, whilst both these stigmata 

 are occasionally joined by a white line. There is, however, very con- 

 siderable variation in the size and shape of the white spot under the 



D 



