IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 41 



spotted with black and the outer margin fuscous, would appear to be 

 the darkest of our British specimens. Our pale ones would be referred 

 to the leuconota of Eversmann. 



a. var. leuconota, Ev. Staudinger gives the following diagnosis of 

 this variety : "Thorace alisque ant. albidis, his fascia lata media 

 obscura " (< Catalog,' p. 92) ; whilst Guenee writes of it : Of a clearer 

 white, without the. terminal lunule and without any trace of the sub- 

 terminal line, in the place of which, there is only a very small dot 

 between the lower part of the first and second. No traces of yellow 

 on the transverse lines, of which the external filet is almost entirely 

 wanting. Two black dots at the base replace the abbreviated basal 

 line. Inferior wings, having the white terminal band prolonged 

 through almost its entire length " (< Noctuelies,' vol. vi., p. 30). The 

 localities given by Staudinger and Guenee are Kussian, and Guenee 

 adds "where it replaces serena" Everstnann's original description 

 is : " Corpus album ; ala3 antics cretaceee spatio medio nigro, ut in specie 

 genuina; posticaj albae, externe nigricantes, maculis albidis anguli 

 analis." To which he adds : " Forma genuina apud nos invenitur, 

 var. Uuconota antem non raro volat in provincia Casanensi, in pro- 

 moritoriis Uralensibus, circa Orenburgum et ad Volgam inferiorem, 

 circa Sareptam " (' Fauna Volg. Ural.', '235). 



ft. var. obscura, Stdgr. Guenee's var. B is named obscura by 

 Staudinger, who describes it as : " Obscurior, magis unicolor " 

 ('Catalog,' p. 92). Guenee's more complete description is: "The 

 ground colour darker, more ashy, with the median space only a little 

 deeper in colour, and in which the ordinary stigmata are more vaguely 

 marked and not encircled with black. The subterminal better marked, 

 almost continuous, although spotted and not arranged as an M. Fringes 

 dark " (' Noctuelies,' vol. vi., p. 30). Guenee gives " Central France," 

 arid Staudinger " the Alps," as localities. We occasionally get such 

 specimens in Britain, but I have received quite typical specimens from 

 Continental collectors under this varietal name. I have a female with 

 the basal area and outer margin very dark. It was captured in 

 Westcombe Park. 



7. (?) var. Corsica, Kmbr. Staudinger queries this as a var. of 

 serena, and writes : " Uilutior magis unicolor" and then adds "or a 

 var. of chrysozona" Guence adds : " This species is very rare arid 

 has not been captured since it was taken by Mr. Kambur. Having 

 only seen one specimen that he took, and that in bad condition, I am 

 unable to give a description, nor, which I regret more, can I say in 

 what it positively differs from a female, sent from Madrid, by Mr. 

 Graells, and which is, if not a species, a very strongly marked variety " 

 ( Noctuelies,' vol. vi., p. 28). 



Folia, Tr., chi, Linn. 



This species is very variable in Britain, developing, at least, two 

 very distinct races, independently of the melanic form which has 

 recently been discovered by Mr. Porritt near Huddersfield. The 

 ground colour of the fore wings varies from an almost pure white 

 (sometimes with a faint bluish tinge) through a dark cold whitish-grey 

 to black. The var. olivacea, with a greenish tinge, is fairly well 

 distributed in our northern English localities, but can nowhere bo culled 



