66 VARIETIES OF NOCTTLS 



Aplecta, Gn., occulta, Linn. 



There are two very distinct forms of this species, one much 

 mottled with grey, the type ; the other, more or less melanic, with 

 the ground colour black. This latter is the implicata of Lefebvre, and 

 perhaps no more striking error occurs in Staudinger's ' Catalog,' than 

 when he writes of this : " Minor, dilutior " (p. 89). Certainly 

 Lefebvre's figure is small but it is dark enough in colour. The type 

 is described by Linnaeus as : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alis 

 deflexis fusco nebulosis, striga inferioribusque brevioribus margine 

 albis." " Fascia linearis repanda alba, supra superiores ubi inferiores 

 terminantur margine postico utrinque albo : alas inferiores multo 

 breviores sunt " (' Systema Naturae,' xth., 514). Of Aplecta occulta at 

 Kannoch, Mr. Wheeler writes : " One specimen was captured almost as 

 light as two southern types in my cabinet, taken near Ipswich " (' Ent. 

 Mo. Mag.,' vol. xiii., p. 141) ; whilst of the same species from Unst, Mr. 

 Weir writes : " These are somewhat intermediate in colour between 

 northern and southern specimens " (' Entom.', vol. xvii., p. 3). Of 

 those obtained in the Shetland Isles, the same gentleman writes : " It 

 is singular that the specimens of this insect are quite as light in 

 colour as the usual southern type, none being dark like those taken in 

 Scotland " (' Entomologist,' vol. xiii., p. 290), whilst of this species 

 near Heading Mr. Holland writes : " A single specimen of a beautiful 

 dark grey colour, was taken at sugar, a few miles away, seven or 

 eight years ago " (' Ent. Mo. Mag.,' xxi., p. 158). 



a. var. implicata, Lef. Under this name two different varieties 

 seem to have been described ; the first is the black northern form 

 described and figured by Lefebvre in the ' Ann. Soc. France,' 1836, 

 fig. 4 and p. 394, and also described by Duponchel and Zetterstedt ; 

 the second is a paler form, referred erroneously to implicata, Lef. by 

 Guenee, and apparently copied from Guende by Staudinger, who 

 perpetuates the error. Zetterstedt's description is a quotation of 

 Lefebvre's, and admirably describes our black form. He writes : 

 " Hadena implicata. l Alis anticis nigricantibus, strigis duabus albidis 

 dentatis, maculis ordinariis nigro circumcinctis, orbiculari albida, 

 reniformi cinerea ; posticis fuliginosis, fimbria, alba.' Lefebvre, $ . 

 (Long. If poll.) Lefeb. in ' Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de Fr.' 1836, 3, 

 p. 394 ; PI. 10, fig. 4, 2 Hab. in Grocnlandia ; D. Lefebvre I.e. ; in 

 terris arcticis a me frustra quassita. Affinis videtur sequenti (ex- 

 tricata)" (' Insecta Lapponica,' p. 940). Staudinger does not appear to 

 have known the black form of this species, neither does Guenee, for 

 the latter gives quite a new description to which he applies Lefebvre's 

 name, whilst the former quotes Zetterstedt's extricata as synonymous 

 with Lefebvre's implicata. which represents, as I have stated, the 

 black form. It is strange that Guende and Staudinger should both 

 describe as implicata a form paler than the type. It is, indeed, difficult 

 to find out in what respect Guenee considers his implicata differs from 

 the type. This is the var. cethiops of Eobson, who describes it as : 

 " Black, lines and margins of stigmata greyer." The original type 

 figure of this dark variety is black with a greenish hue, with black 

 transverse lines and outlines to stigmata. Duponchel describes 

 implicata at length. He writes : " The fore wings are black and 

 traversed by the ordinary basal and angulated lines in the centre. -These 



