IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 81 



pauca specimina inveni." " Similis H. dentince, sed paullo minor et 

 magis albescens. Signature pallidse in alia anticis ut in H. dentina 

 sed macula bifida cum macula ordinaria anteriori omnino confluens, 

 ambse maculam unicam majorem angulatam angulo extus bifido simul 

 efficientes " (' Ins. Lapp.' p. 938). Subvar. leucostigma-obsoleta. The 

 ground colour as in leucostigma but more unicolorous ; the dark parts 

 of the wing round the stigmata &c., absent ; the whole wing area uni- 

 formly pale. Of dentina ab. hilaris, Lampa writes : " Nagotmindre och 

 ljusare, framvingarnes grundfarg stallvis grablaaktigt hvit ; den hvita, 

 tandade flacken sammanflyter med den runda" ('Entom. Tids.,' p. 

 58). 



ft. sub-var. obsoleta, mihi. Of the same ashy-grey ground colour 

 as typical dentina, but without the darker markings round the stigmata, 

 the whole wing area being comparatively unicolorous. 



y. var. ochrea, mihi. This ochreous-grey form is the dentina of 

 Fabricius and of Haworth. It is not at all uncommon in Britain, 

 some specimens becoming of quite a brownish tint, with the yellow 

 markings strongly defined. Fabricius' description is : " Alas anticae 

 cinerea3 in medio in primis fuscescentes maculis ordinariis maculaque 

 cinerea bifida. Distincta macula marginis interioris ad basin strigaque 

 postica undata flavis " (' Mantissa,' p. 157). Guenee says of this : " The 

 dentina of Haworth is an example in which the subterminal line and the 

 base are accompanied with yellow scales, an appearance one frequently 

 observes in fresh specimens " (' Noctuelles,' vi., p. 95). G-uene'e would 

 apparently here suggest that the yellow scales are peculiar to fresh 

 specimens, but this is not so, as many fresh specimens are without, 

 whilst worn specimens frequently have such scales. Sub-var. ochrea- 

 obsoleta. The ground colour as in var. ochrea, but more unicolorous ; 

 the ordinarily dark parts of the wing uniform with the ground colour ; 

 the whole wing almost uniformly ochreous. 



8. var. latenai, Pierr. This is a melanic form of dentina and in 

 Britain, so far as I know, very rare, although I believe some numbers 

 were brought from the Hebrides by the Messrs. Salvage a few years 

 since. Pierret's description is : "Hadence dentince aflfinis ; statura paulo 

 major, alse obscuriores, lineamenta maculaque odontidea magis con- 

 spicua. Patria Helvetia." He also adds : "It resembles dentina very 

 much and is perhaps only a local variety of it. However, some very 

 remarkable differences in the facies lead me to describe it. Inde- 

 pendently of the size, which is very large, this species is distinguished 

 from dentina by the intensity of the colour of the superior wings, and 

 by the black markings of these wings which are more pronounced. 

 The dentate spot, too, is larger and better marked" ( Ann. Soc. Ent. 

 France.' 1837, p. 177). The figure (PL 8, fig. 3), to which this 

 description refers is dull purplish black, the dentate mark below the 

 orbicular being much elpngated. Of this variety Staudinger writes : 

 " Multo obscurior " (' Catalog,' p. 91); whilst Guende writes: 

 " Latenai, Pierret, is only a specimen blackened by the cold of the 

 mountains " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 95), the statement showing the old 

 erroneous idea of a connection between cold and a general melanochroic 

 tendency. Herr Hoffmann, referring to the dark specimens taken in 

 Shetland, says ; " Probably they are var. latenai which occurs also 



