70 VARIETIES of 



stand in a faintly mixed purple shade, which starts from the hind 

 margin. Their outlines, as well as the angulated line on its lower 

 border, have the same tint though somewhat deeper. The subtermi- 

 nal line has two scarcely perceptible teeth, and is accompanied towards 

 the inside at three places with brown spots. On the hind margin 

 stand three white dots, not far from the tip, and a row of brown, some- 

 what rounded off, triangles are close to the fringe. The hind wings 

 are bright ash-grey " (' Insekten Kal.' &c., ii., p. 394). This species is 

 the argentine, of Haworth (p. 186) ; whilst the hepatica of Hiibner (fig. 

 77) represents the bluest form of the species we get. 



a. var. svffusa, mihi. The only variety I ever saw of this species 

 was sent for my inspection by Mr. Hope Alderson, who bred it from a 

 larva taken at Farnboro' (Kent). It has the whole area between the 

 basal and angulated lines deeply suffused with dark purplish, the suffusion 

 extending below the stigmata almost to the inner margin. The 

 description I made of this specimen was as follows : " Anterior wings 

 of the normal silvery bluish-grey ground colour, with a double ab- 

 breviated, followed by a complete double basal line. The orbicular 

 large and pale, and on its inner edge is a dark purplish-brown wedge- 

 shaped mark. The reniform and claviform normal, but a deep purple- 

 brown blotch fills in the space between the orbicular and reniform, 

 whilst another large purple-brown patch under the orbicular and reni- 

 form and in contact with them, reaches back to the claviform and fills 

 up the central area of the wing. The subterminal line forms an ex- 

 ceedingly dark lunule about half-way down its length, and another at 

 the anal angle in which is a purple-brown spot. The hind margin 

 has a series of dark triangular patches, the outer edge of the nervures 

 also dark. Hind wings normal." 



Aplecta, Gn., advena, Fab. 



This is another interesting species and very close allied to tincta. 

 It generally develops a glaucous tinge, without, however, the bright 

 bluish tint of the latter species. Sometimes this pale colour spreads 

 over almost the whole of the anterior wings, sometimes it is entirely 

 absent and the wing is uniformly dull reddish-grey. The lower part 

 of the outer edge of the reniform is occasionally white ; the orbicular 

 varies from entire absence, through a pale ring to a dark-centred 

 ocellated stigma ; the claviform is sometimes obsolete, sometimes clearly 

 outlined, whilst the subterminal varies from complete absence to a 

 well- developed row of dots. The Fabrician description of the type is 

 as follows : " Noctua cristata alis deflexis dentatis cinereo f uscoque 

 variis, thoracis crista bifida." " Magna cinereo fuscoque varia, postice 

 striga abbreviata nigra. In medio macula ordinarise. Posticro fusca3. 

 Thoracis crista elevata, bifida quasi caniculata " (' Mantissa,' p. 183). 

 We get three very distinct forms in Britain : 

 1. Pale reddish-grey, tinged with glaucous = var. nitens, Haw. 

 2. Dark reddish-grey along costa, pale between elbowed and sub- 

 terminal lines == advena, Fab. 

 3. Unicolorous dark reddish-grey = var. unicolor. 



a. rar. nitens, Haw. Haworth gives an excellent description of 

 our palest form of this species. Strange to say, my best example of 

 this form is like Haworth's, much below the average size, but small size 



