46 VARIETIES OF 



fact, dark gre}'. The anterior wings are slightly suffused with black 

 round the outer edge " (' Entom.', vol. xii., p. 161). Mr. Carrington 

 could not have known much of the species to say " the imagines 

 seldom vary," unless he judged only from British specimens. His re- 

 mark, too, about P. chi and P. flamcincta not varying is also incorrect. 

 Of the species in Cornwall, Dr. Biding writes : " Whilst at Morthoe, I 

 was fortunate enough to take 3 males and 4 females of Folia nigrocincta 

 in fine condition. This is, I believe, the first time the insect has been 

 token in England, with the exception of the solitary specimen captured 

 at Padstow in 1862, although imagines and larvae, the latter especially, 

 have been found pretty freely in the Isle of Man. The specimens I 

 have seen from that locality have a less distinct black band " (' Ento- 

 mologist,' vol. xvi., p. 248). Hiibner's type may be thus described : 

 " Anterior wings pale grey, with the two basal lines yellowish ; the 

 orbicular and reniform both outlined in yellow ; the angulated and 

 subterminal lines being also of the same colour. The hind wings white 

 with blackish outer margin, a dusky line parallel to the margin and a 

 distinct lunule " (' Sammlung europ. Schmet.,' fig. 647). This form, 

 strongly speckled and mottled with yellow is, therefore, the type ; 

 whilst the less strongly yellow- speckled form is the nigrocincta of 

 Treitschke. Staudinger also mentions a white form irrorated with 

 black and yellow scales which he calls nivescens. Of the type 

 Staudinger writes : " Forma (aberratio) obscurior, al. ant. valde flavo- 

 conspersis " (' Catalog,' p. 96). Guence treats Hiibner's type as a 

 variety and writes : " The general tint becomes browner and more 

 unicolorous (equal)." What this means, I must confess I do not know, 

 for Hiibner's figure is in no way brown. The rest of Griienee's 

 description is correct enough. He writes: "The tint is no longer 

 bluish, and numerous bright orange-yellow scales follow all the lines 

 and outline the stigmata along their inner borders. The females have 

 a more generally yellow tint, and the yellow scales brighter and more 

 numerous." He then adds : " Independently of this variety, nigro- 

 cincta presents a crowd of others but without any constancy " 

 (< Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 37). 



a. var. nigrocincta, Tr. Staudinger says of this : " Forma fre- 



quentior, dilutior " ( Catalog,' p. 97). Guenee writes of this variety 



(which he considered the type) : " The colour of the type of this 



species consists in the males of a clear ashy or bluish, having only 



rarely yellow spots slightly visible. The type has also the median 



space, distinctly blackish, and the ordinary stigmata marked in clear 



grey. The females are, however, more difficult to separate into races " 



(' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 37). Treitschke's description is : " Alis 



anticis cinerascentibus, medio nigrocinctis, strigaque postica albis," 



to which he adds: "An albicincta from Borkhausen appears to be 



nothing else than a pale nigrocincta, without a strong mixture of yellow 



and black scales. All specimens, however, differ in their colouring, 



and there is some sexual difference. The male is much smaller and 



scarcely the size of ccesia whilst the female is almost as large as 



flavicincta. The male is whitish-grey, the female ashy-grey." " The 



grey forewings are divided by the transverse lines into three parts. 



The first is at the base and is always more or less tinged with yellow, 



the incomplete basal line is edged with yellow. The second division 



