SB VARIETIES Of NOCTTLS 



reddish stigma under the orbicular, surrounded with blackish-brown 

 and placed on the basal line ; a blackish longitudinal basal streak 

 reaches almost to this line as in Apamea basilinea " (' Histoire Natu- 

 relle ' &c., iii., p. 323). Guenee says of this : " Generally a little 

 larger, of a greyish testaceous yellow, darker on the disc, and at the 

 outer margin, with the same markings as in the type, but the subter- 

 minal, although very well marked, is less striking and is always pre- 

 ceded by cuneiform markings in the middle, and with fine reddish 

 markings in the lower part. Inferior wings paler, and thus rendering 

 the markings more distinct " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 100). Guenee 

 warns entomologists against confounding this variety with the aliena 

 of Hiibner, which is a distinct species. This variety would also ap- 

 pear to comprise Guenee's var. A of which he writes : " All the 

 markings very distinct, the ordinary stigmata large and close together. 

 The subterminal sharply dentate and very strongly marked." " West of 

 France and England " ( Noctuelles,' vol. v., p. 99). 



/3. var. w-latinum, Esp. Esper's figure (PI. 136, fig. 3) of this var. 

 is most unsatisfactory, but appears to be our dark reddish-brown form 

 scattered over with blackish or greyish scales, and with only the sub- 

 terminal defined. Guende writes : " Ashy colour is the prevailing 

 tint on the superior wings, and is varied here and there with reddish- 

 ferruginous, this last colour surrounds the stigmata, borders the 

 subterminal, and sometimes forms marblings in the median space. 

 There are no cuneiform marks before the subterminal. The inferior 

 wings are paler, especially in the ." Guenee also adds : " I have 

 one very remarkable female of this sub-variety which is of a deep 

 ferruginous red, almost like oleracea. It is to this form, more especially, 

 that the figure of Esper belongs " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 100). I 

 believe the first part of GueneVs remarks, refer rather to var. con- 

 flnens, Eversmann, which are particularly blackish-grey in colour, but 

 his remark re the similarity of specimens of this variety to oleracea, I 

 quite agree with. They are very similar, and sometimes bear a marked 

 superficial resemblance to oleracea. I have this reddish-brown uni- 

 colorous var. w-latinum, from Strood, Deal, Darlington, Warrington, 

 and many other places, but var. confluens appears to be much more 

 restricted. 



y. var. confluens, Ev. This is the darkest form of dissimilis, and 

 is of a blackish-grey coloration, with the markings almost obsolete 

 except the pale outlines to the reniform and orbicular. Eversmann's 

 description is : " Alas anticae fusco-nigricantes spatio submarginali 

 unicolore, maculis ordinariis albidis, striga submarginali in medio 

 argute bidentata ; posticse nigricantes ciliis albis." He then adds : 

 " Paulo minor quam suasa, sed ei simillima et forsan nihil, nisi ejus 

 varietas; differt colore nigricante et spatio submarginali unicolore 

 sine umbris. In spatio eo interdum series punctorum alborum repe- 

 ritur, eodem modo ac in M. suasa " (< Faun. Volg.-Ural.,' p. 245). The 

 only British specimens of this variety that I have seen, were bred by 

 Mr. Mera, from ova laid by a female captured on the Essex coast. 



Hadena, Och., oleracea, Linn. 



This common species is most invariable with the exception of the 

 ground colour, which is sometimes red-brown but more generally of a 



