IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 99 



writes : " A specimen of Cloantha perspicillaris found in a spider's 

 web, at Ashford, Hants, was exhibited by the Rev. Mr. Hawker, at the 

 May meeting of the Entomological Society " (' Ent. Ann.,' 1855, p. 47). 

 Guene'e writes : " Engramelle has figured (346 a b) under the name 

 of ' La Pale,' a Noctuelle which does not at all resemble Leucania 

 pollens, and which appears to me only an accidental variety of our 

 perspicittaris" (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 113). 



Xylina, Och., ornitopus, Hufn. 



The Continental specimens which I have seen of this species, ap- 

 pear to be slightly greyer than our British specimens which are of a 

 somewhat purer white ground colour. I find no point of variation 

 worth noticing except that the lower edge of the reriiform is some- 

 times outlined with black as in furctfera, and that the HH-like mark is 

 also formed as in that species. Hufnagel's original diagnosis of this 

 species is : " Fore wings white and grey, mottled with fine grey 

 markings and a yellowish reniform stigma " (' Berl. Mag.,' iii., 309, n. 

 Cat.). Fabricius describes the same species under the name of rhizolitha. 

 He writes : " Noctua cristata alis subdentatis cinereis : lineola baseos 

 intermediaque atris, thoracis crista bifida." " Ala3 grisese lineola baseos 

 distincta atra, in medio lunulae lineolaque nigrse, apice puncta nigra. 

 Posticse supra fuscre, subtus cinereas puncto medio strigaque postica 

 fuscis " (< Mantissa,' pp. 182-183). 



Xylina, Och., lamda, Fab. (lambda, Stdgr.). 



This species is almost unknown as British, except for the informa- 

 tion in Newman's ' British Moths,' p. 428, although many collections 

 contain supposed British specimens of this fairly common and variable 

 Continental moth. Staudinger mentions three forms : (1) the ashy- 

 grey type ; (2) the almost unicolorous somniculosa of Hering ; and (3) 

 the variegated white-lined zinckenii of Treitschke. The last is figured 

 by Newman in his ' British Moths,' p. 428, fig. 1, and the first by the 

 same author /. c. fig. 2. The Fabrician description of the type is as 

 follows : " Noctua cristata, alis deflexis fusco cinereis : lineola baseos 

 duabusque in medio atris." " Statura et magnitude omnino N. psi. 

 Caput et thorax obscure cinerea, valde cristata. Alaa anticse obscure 

 cinerese, nitidae fascia baseos mediique obsoletis obscurioribus. Lineola 

 atra ad basin, duseque in medio: interior! longiori " (< Mantissa,' p. 

 174). Guenee writes : " The description of Fabricius suits this 

 species well enough, but one is hardly able to conceive why he com- 

 pares this Noctuelle in size and appearance to psi, even when one 

 takes into consideration the abuse of comparison to which we are ac- 

 customed from this author. Further, it is hardly likely that Fabriciu* 1 . 

 knew a species which must have been very rare in his time " (' Noc- 

 tuelles,' vol. vi., p. 1-19). I quite fail to see why the then supposed 

 rarity of the species is any reason for assuming that Fabricius did not 

 know it, and the comparison of it with psi is but little, if any more 

 far-fetched, than many other comparisons made by that author. It is 

 beyond doubt that the description applies to this species, and I think 

 Staudinger was quite right in restoring the names. Of this species 

 Newman writes : " The palpi are slightly porrected : the antenna? 

 are almost simple in both sexes : the fore wings are rather narrow, 



