IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 95 



Under the orbicular, is the round claviform. Beyond the stigmata 

 are a whitish angulated line (also dentate) and, near the hind margin, 

 a whitish zigzag line which forms a W in the centre. Between these 

 lines the colour is slate-grey and in the middle there is a transverse 

 row of white dots, each dot standing on a black nervure. On the 

 hind margin is a row of black triangular dots ; the fringes brown 

 streaked with yellowish ; the costa speckled with brown, and 8 or 4 

 yellow dots towards the apex. Hind wings yellowish-grey, hind 

 margin ashy-grey " (< Naturgeschichte ' &c., ix., p. 355). Of this 

 species Newman writes : " The fore wings are beautifully mottled 

 and marbled with various tints of grey and brown ; the orbicular is 

 round and has a slender black circumscription ; the reniform has not 

 so perfect a circumscription ; the median area is grey in both ; 

 immediately below them is a longitudinal blotch of rich dark brown ; 

 at the costal base of the wing is a rather large grey spot, and below 

 this a very distinct linear longitudinal black mark; beyond the 

 discoidal spots is a broad pale grey band extending entirely across the 

 wing, and beyond this a pale grey zigzag line accompanied by dark 

 margins, and a few dark wedge-shaped marks which point towards 

 the base of the wing ; the hind wings are grey-brown with darker 

 wing rays and paler fringes " (' British Moths,' p. 422). 



Hyppa, Dup., rectilinea, Esp. 



This is a beautiful and variable species, and despite its superficial 

 resemblance to H. genista, I think Staudinger was right in separating 

 it generically. The specimens vary from being uniformly grey with 

 an NH-like mark, to grey with an intensely dark red-brown band. 

 The orbicular varies from complete obsolescence to a large longitudi- 

 nal oval stigma, and the reniform also from complete absence to a 

 well-developed stigma on the darker banded specimens. The tiny 

 white lines or white shading developed in the W-part of the subter- 

 minal in oleracea, are, in this species very strongly developed, and 

 reach from the subterminal to the elbowed line, making a pale patch 

 in the area between these lines. The cuneiform spots are sometimes 

 well-developed and reach back into the fringe. Esper's diagnosis of 

 the type is : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, alis deflexis f usco-cinereis, 

 macula baseos rotundata albida ; striga longitudinali recta nigra alterave 

 versus discum remotis ; macula anguli interni alba, strigis duabus 

 nigris obliquis foeta " (' Die Schmet. in Abbild.' &c., p. 379). His fig. 

 1, plate 127, is unrecognisable. Of this species Newman writes : 

 " The colour of the fore wings is a mixture of pale grey almost white, 

 and rich sepia-brown ; the lighter colour occupies the base of the wing, 

 more particularly the costal half of the base, and also the hind mar- 

 ginal area ; the median area of the wing is occupied by the sepia- 

 brown, and includes the discoidal spots : the orbicular is small, obscure, 

 and flattened longitudinally, sometimes reduced to a mere line ; it 

 varies also in colour, sometimes being pale grey, at others concolorous 

 with the brown area by which it is surrounded ; in some instances it 

 is a dark line united to the reniform, of which it appears a mere ap- 

 pendage ; the reniform is more distinct but narrow, its usual colour is 

 grey with a slender median shade of brown ; the hind marginal area 

 contains cloudy brown marks and darker wedge-shaped marks, the 



