IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 43 



third beyond the middle, very much curved aud becoming parallel 

 with the second towards the inner margin ; the fourth is composed of 

 irregularly lunate spots and is parellel with the hinder margin ; some 

 of these spots have wedge-shaped black marks on their inner edges, 

 and the two middle striga3 are united by a black streak between the 

 stigmata which are faintly bordered with black and white on the inner 

 margin. Cilia ashy- white, with olivaceous spots : post, wings fuscous 

 with a pale waved central striga. Taken at Cramond Kest, 

 Edinburgh " (' Illus. Haust.,' iii., p. 325). Staudinger says of it : 

 " Al. ant. olivaceo-grisescent." (' Catalog,' p. 97) ; while Newman 

 writes: "There is a beautiful local variety, in which the ground 

 colour of the fore wings is a delicate olive-green, interrupted by four 

 transverse series of pure white spots, the first very short and close to 

 the base ; the second nearly direct, but zigzag, is situated before 

 the middle of the wing; the third very much bent, and situated 

 beyond the middle of the wing ; and the fourth is oblique and 

 parallel with the hind margin. The discoidal spots are rather 

 obscure " (' British Moths,' p. 394). Newman also figures the variety 

 on the same page. Humphrey and Westwood write : " Folia olivacca, 

 described by Mr. Stephens in the appendix to the 3rd volume of his 

 ' Illustrations ' as measuring 1 J inch in the expanse of the fore wings, 

 and of a green-olive colour, with four denticulated white striga) and 

 black markings, the stigmata faintly bordered with black and white, 

 with olivaceous spots ; taken at Cramond, near Edinburgh, by Mr. Little, 

 has subsequently been considered as a variety of P. eld " (' British 

 Moths,' p. 192). Of var. olivacea, Mr. Robson writes : " Thirty years 

 ago, I took var. olivacea here (Bartlepool) in some numbers, along 

 with the type, but it seems to have disappeared, for I have seen 

 neither for quite twenty years. Olivacea is comparatively common 

 about Newcastle-on-Tyne, whence I obtained all the specimens i have 

 had of recent years. It passes the winter in the egg state. The eggs 

 are of the usual Noctua form, like a tiny limpet shell, and deposited 

 so that one overlaps the other. It is an easy species to rear, and a bred 

 olivacea is something very different to the faded specimens captured, 

 being much darker and not so green. The first I ever bred appeared 

 to be something I did not know, and thoughts of a new species came 

 into my head, but quickly proved vain. In the west of the county of 

 Durham perhaps I should say the south-west the type occurs 

 commonly but I have no knowledge of olivacca occurring there. If 

 the species occurs in the north-west I should expect it to be olivacea 

 rather than the type " (' Entom. Rec/ &c., vol. ii., p. 84). To which 

 Mr. Maddison adds : " Referring to Mr. Robson's note ( Ent. Record,' 

 vol. ii., p. 84) the type and the var. both occur here. I take them at 

 rest on grey stone walls, tree trunks, and palings, the var. forming 

 about 25 per cent, of the specimens taken. I have also one or two 

 intermediate forms" (' Entom. Record' &c., vol. ii., p. 107). Mr. 

 Elliot, writing of this species at Jedburgh, says : " Pol-la chi is very 

 common, and the variety olivacea frequently occurs, some of a pale 

 green, varying to a dark smoky shade, the abdomen being almost 

 black" (< Entom. Mo. Mag.,' vol. xviii., p. 258). For my finest 

 specimens of olivacea (both sexes), I am indebted to Mr. Finlay of 

 Meldon Park, who takes the variety regularly in his district. Mr. 



