68 VARIETIES OP NOCTUJE 



utrinque nigrocinctis, distantibus. Alas postica? obscure fusc, 

 omnino immaculatae, fimbria alba " (' Insecta Lapponica,' p. 940). 



Aplecta, Gn., nebulosa, Hufn. 



Without showing a very great amount of ordinary variation, this 

 species presents a range of colour development extending from pure 

 white to the most intense black. These melanic specimens, only five of 

 which are at present known, have been bred by Messrs. Collins and Acton 

 of Warrington, during the last two seasons, 1890-1891, and probably 

 these present at once, the most recent and most intense development 

 of the many melanic varieties for which the British Isles are remark- 

 able. The almost pure white form of this species is rare, and of the 

 ordinary mottled ones we have two distinct forms ; one, generally 

 found in Yorkshire and the Midland counties, is of a dark grey ground 

 colour ; the other, of a whitish-grey mottled slightly with ochreous. 

 Hufnagel's wretched description of the type is : " Fore wings whitish- 

 grey with spots and stigmata edged with brown or brownish-grey with 

 whitish-grey spots " (' Berlinisches Magazin,' iii., 418). This description 

 in a general way, applies perhaps to our typical form but such descrip- 

 tions as these are most unsatisfactory. The type is certainly the plebeia 

 of Hiibner (fig. 78), whilst bimaculosa, Esp. (p. 403) appears to be the 

 darker Yorkshire form. Grandis, Haw. (p. 185) is typical, but 

 trimaculosa, Esp. is not this species, as placed doubtfully by 

 Staudinger (' Catalog/ p. 89), but advena (vide description Esp. p. 400). 

 In Newman's ' British Moths/ p. 407, fig. 3 represents a peculiar banded 

 form, the central shade being unusually well- developed and black, and 

 the orbicular particularly white, with white basal patches on the costa 

 and on the side of the thorax ; whilst fig. 4 presents a very strange 

 form, with a series of white lunular spots on the outer margin of the 

 anterior wings, outside the subterminal, which, as well as the angulated 

 line, is represented by a single black wavy line, as also are the basal 

 lines, whilst the stigmata are obsolete. These figures were made from 

 specimens in Mr. Bond's cabinet and are altogether abnormal. 



The forms we get may be classified as follows : 

 1. White, with almost obsolete markings = var. pallida. 

 2. Pale grey, with darker grey and slightly ochreous markings = 



nebulosa, Hufn. 



3. Dark grey, with blackish markings = var. bimaculosd, Esp. 

 4. Black = var. robsoni, Collins. 



a. var. pallida, mihi. This beautiful white form, the exact 

 opposite to var. robsoni, was first made known to me by the Glasgow 

 collectors. All the basal lines are obsolete except the costal dots, the 

 orbicular also obsolete except a central dot, the reniform except a 

 faint outline ; the angulated line is not traceable, but the subterminal 

 is characterised by a few black dots following the pale wavy line. 

 My specimens have come from Glasgow, Cork and Chattenden. 



ft. var. bimaculosa, Esp. The anterior wings are grey much 

 mottled with dark scales, the transverse lines are distinct but generally 

 dusky, whilst the stigmata are slightly paler, the row of cuneiform 

 spots show every transition from a wavy line to almost complete 

 absence. The characteristic :>- like mark at the anal angle also varies 

 in intensity. Although generally known as the Yorkshire form, this 



