ifc T&E BRTTISH ISLANDS. 71 



does not by any means always accompany this form. The wing is 

 tinged all over with silvery glaucous, in a very small way copying its 

 ally, tincta. The pale reddish-grey is better developed around the 

 stigmata than elsewhere, and the subterminal is generally distinct. 

 Haworth's description is : " Noctua alis brunneo argenteoque variis, 

 striga postica ex punctis angulatis confluentibus, antennis setaceis 

 nudis." " Exemplarium unicum maris solum vidi. Prsecedenti 

 nimis affinis (advena, Haw.) at minor, antennis setaceis, nudis nee 

 hirto-pectinatis, stigmateque claviformi majore. Alas anticse magis 

 brunneas et postice magis argentese, stigmate reniformi inferne 

 semicincto margine albissimo. Caetera fere ut in priore (advena), at 

 striga postica extus magis alba" (Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 188). 

 This is an excellent description of a variety in my cabinet and fits it 

 so exactly that it might have been the specimen described. 

 Humphrey and Westwood write : " Noctua nitens, Haworth, has 

 been regarded as a variety of the 5 ,,preceding species, than which, 

 however, it is smaller, measuring lg in the expanse of the fore wings, 

 which are of a redder-brown colour, with the extremity more silvery ; 

 the supplemental stigma larger, the apical striga more distinct, and 

 formed of angulated, confluent spots ; the antennae are setaceous and 

 naked and not furnished with bristly pectinations " (' British Moths,' 

 p. 189). 



ft. var. unicolor, mihi. In this variety the pale glaucous colour 

 extremely developed in var. nitens, and fairly well-marked in the type, 

 is entirely absent. The anterior wings are unicolorous dark reddish, 

 slightly grey, with the stigmata and transverse lines almost obsolete, 

 and of the typical subterminal line, only the mark near the anal angle 

 is noticeable. Humphrey and Westwood write : " Occasionally, as 

 in our figure 1, the wings are almost entirely concolorous, with only 

 a slight white edging to the stigmata, and a reddish patch behind the 

 anterior, and another beyond the posterior stigma " (' British Moths,' 

 p. 189). 



Hadena, Och. 



This genus comprises a fairly well-defined group of insects, the 

 imagines of some of which appear to be very closely allied. One east 

 and central European species, porphyrea, is rare in Britain, and prob- 

 ably will always remain so, as we are on the borders of its most 

 westerly limit of geographical distribution ; whilst peregrina is still 

 rarer ; our south-coast being apparently the most northerly limit of 

 this species which is abundant on the Mediterranean littoral. Bather 

 dark or melanic forms of Hadena adusta and H. suasa occasionally 

 occur, but, generally speaking, this group is not given to melanic 

 tendencies. H. protea, H. pisi and H. dentina offer perhaps the great- 

 est amount of ordinary variation, but the genus does not exhibit any- 

 thing extreme in any of the species. The affinity and near relationship 

 of this genus to Maniestra is very evident, in fact, the whole of the 

 Hadenidce should follow the Apamidce. Most of the species in this 

 genus, contigua, thalassina, dissimilis, pisi, oleracea, glauca, dentina. 

 genistce, trifolii and peregrina are placed by Staudinger in the 

 genus Mamestra ; whilst only porphyrea and adusta are left with ab- 

 jecta and the modern genera Apamea and Xylophasia in Hadena. 

 There is no doubt our genera are, in a general way, more natural, if 



