58 VARIETIES OP NOCTtLaB 



Guenee : " Of an ashy-grey colour with the median space darker ; all 

 the lines conspicuous, double, and edged with brown. The two ordi- 

 nary stigmata a little paler ; the lower part of the reniform filled in 

 with blackish. The inferior wings of the $ , grey, much paler than 

 in the type with traces of a median line. Southern and Central 

 France " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 46). This is a very beautiful variety 

 and taken in both sexes by Mr. Kuss of Sligo. Of a magnificent series 

 captured by that gentleman, I made the following notes : " Anterior 

 wings of the $ 's deep slaty-grey, with a beautiful hoary tinge ; a 

 dark band across the centre of the wings, which is broader at the costa 

 and narrower towards the inner margin ; a wavy line on either side 

 of this band and forming its margins, slightly paler than the ground 

 colour, the stigmata (reniform and orb.) slightly paler than the band 

 (i.e. they are of the ground colour), the claviform more intense black ; 

 a black wavy transverse line between the central band and the outer 

 margin ; the extreme spaces between the nervures slightly darker ; 

 the fringes smoky black. The hind wings white, with a narrow 

 black marginal line, dark nervures, and black spots on the nervures ; 

 fringes white. The anterior wings of the ? 's are banded like those of 

 the males, but the ground colour is darker and the hind wings are dark 

 black grey with the base paler. The transverse row of dots almost devel- 

 oped into an irregular line, fringes dark grey." Guenee says that he 

 has " bred this pretty variety from the same larvae as typical lutulenta , 

 near Chateaudun " (' Noct.,' vi., p. 46). It would appear that this 

 variety is also captured in Scotland, with the dark var. liineburgensis, 

 for Mr. N. Cooke writes : " On the 17th Sept. I received from near 

 Loch Laggan, Co. Inverness, three specimens (two $ and one $ ) of a 

 moth I thought I never saw before, which had been taken at sugar on 

 the night of the 15th September; so I sent a neighbour of mine, 

 Mr. W. Greaseley of Wallasey, to work it up. He succeeded in taking 

 four more of the moths, obtained eggs from two females, noticed a plant 

 much eaten in the locality where the moths were taken, and a deal of 

 frass, like that of NOCTU^E larvas, underneath the plants ; consequently 

 he brought the seeds to try to grow the plant for the Iarva3 to feed on 

 in spring." " The moths are much smaller than the lutulenta we take 

 here (Liscard). Mr. N. Greening of Warrington, says that Mr. J. 

 Cooper brought the same variety from Loch Bannoch about 25 years 

 ago." " It is an interesting variety and itself varies from light grey to 

 nearly black " (' Ent. Mo. Mag.,' vol. xiii., p. 142). 



e. var. albidilinea, mihi. This variety has been erroneously 

 considered asjiineburgensis, Freyer, and under this name Staudinger 

 writes of it : " Nigricans, fasciis distinctis albis " (' Catalog, 1 p. 95). 

 In Britain, it appears only to have occurred so far in the Orkney 

 Islands. Mr. J. Jenner Weir first noticed it and wrote of it under 

 the name of liineburgensis : " This is a very interesting capture ; 

 several specimens taken agree well with the description given by 

 Staudinger in his * Catalogue of European Lepidoptera,' No. 1841, p. 

 95. He writes as follows : * Nigricans, fasciis distinctis albis.' The 

 habitat given is South-western Germany ; ? Pyrenees " (* Entomologist,' 

 xv., p. 4). It was afterwards noticed by Mr. Gregson, who writes of 

 the specimens from Hoy : " Epunda lutulenta var. lilneburgensis. 

 Ground colour almost black, with light silvery edging to central 

 striga. Never saw any so fine before " (< Young Naturalist,' vol. vi., 



