54 VARIETIES OF NOCTILS! 



name of luneburgensis, but I think erroneously. If I am correct, it 

 should be described and named as a distinct variety, being constant in 

 coloration, and not confined to either sex or locality. E. lutulenta, 

 W.V. is given (by Guenee) as follows : ' Of a dark sooty grey, with 

 pencillings scarcely visible, and only the reniform stigma and sub- 

 terminal line somewhat better marked, and joined to shadings of 

 somewhat warm brown. The female darker, with hind wings of 

 an uniform dusky colour.' This I take to be pretty much the 

 English normal type of Epunda lutulenta. Guenee describes three 

 varieties as follows : ' Consimilis, St., female var. Of paler grey, 

 but with pencillings as slightly marked.' ' Lutulenta, Hub., female 

 var. Of a grey mouse-colour, with the two median lines very 

 slenderly, but distinctly, marked in black, the sublateral being more 

 strongly marked.* Hind wings white to the centre, with a median 

 line scarcely visible above, but on under side, a well-marked sinus 

 opposite the cellule. South France.' ' Sedi, male and female 

 (Bdv. in litt.). Of ash coloured grey with deeper median band ; all 

 the transverse lines well marked and double, bordered with warm 

 brown. The stigmata a little clearer, but the lower portion of the 

 reniform shaded with blackish. The hind wings of the female of a 

 lighter hue than in the type, with traces of a median line. Central 

 and South France.' Guenee states that he has never seen var. 

 luneburgensis, but, judging from the figures of Herrich-Schaffer, con- 

 siders it to approximate closely to our form,' i.e. I presume, to that of 

 E. lutulenta, W.V. On reference to the illustrations in question, it 

 will be seen that the two female (?) insects are represented as being 

 of different shades of brown, with all the lines drawn broadly in a 

 paler tint, as also the outline of the stigmata. Hind wings of both 

 darkly shaded. In fact, the darker specimen reminds one strongly of 

 Luperina cespitis in general colour and manner of pencilling. The 

 female (?) var. of H.-Schaffer, neither in depth of colour, marking, 

 nor in being confined to one sex (?) seems to correspond to the Scotch 

 and Irish insects to which I refer. Staudinger's short description of 

 the two varieties tallies with the above, and more forcibly illustrates 

 the dissimilarity I allege to exist: 'Abet var. luneburgensis (Frr., 

 H.-S., Gn.). Nigricans, fasciis distinct, albis.' ( Ab. et var. sedi (Gn.), 

 lutulenta (Dup. iii., 18, 1). Omnino cinerascens, fasciis distinct, 

 nigris.' In the Doubleday European collection there is a dark ashy 

 grey variety, with blackish and light grey delineation, marked 

 " luneburgensis ; " and in the cabinet of Mr. Tugwell of Greenwich, 

 there are two Scotch specimens, one of which is a dark ash coloured 

 grey, with sepia brown lines and markings distinctly traced, and not 

 very narrow, bordered with paler shading. Orbicular distinct, of 

 pale area on darker ground. Eeniform only partly traceable. The 

 above description I wrote down when examining the specimen, and it 

 will be seen to correspond pretty nearly with Guene'e's sedi. The 

 other is a dark brown form, which occurs in the west of Ireland also, 

 and is exactly identical. It may be roughly described as having the 

 exact coloration of E. nigra, i.e. a deep sepia brown-black, with (as in 

 E. nigra) pencillings indicated, not in colour, but in the glossy texture 



* Instead of " the sublateral being more strongly marked," Guenee says, 

 " the subterminal less marked." 



