tfc THE BRITISH ISlANfcS, 103 



* Xylind alis anticis cinereo albidoque marmoratis, lineola baseos atra, 

 albo inducta, maculis ordinariis albidis nigro cinctis, linea marginal! 

 interrupta " (' Die Schmet.' &c., vol. v., pt. 3, p. 16) ; to which he adds : 

 " Zinckenii is (compared with conformis) smaller in size, the fore wings 

 shorter, the males more strongly marked and brighter, the colour more 

 ashy-grey. The head and collar are uniform in colour ; on the back is 

 a tuft ornamented with a black collar. The antennae are like those of 

 conformis, brown, white at the base. The colour of the abdomen runs 

 towards red-brown, is mixed with black, and is lined on the sides and 

 at the extremity with hairy tufts. The thorax and feet are white- 

 grey, not so red as in conform. The fore wings generally have a 

 mottled appearance, but they look more uniform in many specimens. 

 The black, white-bordered, basal longitudinal streak is present but it 

 does not divide into 3 wedge-shaped marks but into 2 spots. Of the 

 transverse basal lines only the first is distinct, the second is entirely 

 absent. The orbicular is always visible, although in conformis it is 

 almost always absent. It is bordered with a black dash, which runs 

 under the reniform as an angular line and unites both the discoidals. 

 The reniform is smaller than it is in conformis. Towards the inner 

 margin stands an elongated black streak edged with white. The outer 

 subterminal line breaks off in the middle of the wing (whilst in 

 conformis it is continuous) and persists in its lower part only as single 

 white dots. Lastly the fringes are quite different, being uniform grey 

 with a delicate white border. The hind wings are shorter compared 

 with those of conformis, but in colour not very different. The fringes 

 are also the same, brownish- or reddish- white " (' Die Schmet.' &c. 

 vol. v., 3rd pt., p. 16). Staudinger writes of it : " Magis variegata, 

 albo-picta "(' Catalog,' p. 119). M. Sven Lampa writes: " Grey, 

 intermixed with white and clearly denned black markings: the 

 fringes yellowish ; antennas, grey in the males, with the pectinations 

 in the form of tufts" ('Entom. Tidskrift,' 1885, p. 77). Lampa also 

 gives this variety as occurring in Finland and several Scandinavian 

 localities. This is the sommeri of Germar, who writes : " Sommeri, 

 Heyer. X. sommeri: cristata, alis anticis griseis fusco marmoratis, 

 fasciis linearibus dentatis albis, fusco marginatis ; lineis sagittatis atris ; 

 maculis ordinariis obliteratis, atro cinctis ; anteriore rufo-umbrosa, 

 posticis fuscis, subtus omnibus lutescentibus, disco obscuriore " (' Fauna 

 Ins. Europaa,' 16). 



Xylina, Och., furcifera, Hufn. 



The ordinary Continental form is very much paler than our 

 British specimens. The former are pale violet-grey in tint, whilst 

 the latter are deep violet-grey approaching black in colour. The 

 black mark which joins the bases of the reniform and orbicular is very 

 strange, and the ><-niark extends from the end of the claviform 

 (without including it) to the angulated line, as in Tceniocampa gothica. 

 Hufnagel's description of the type is : " Bluish-grey, with a few 

 brownish markings, notably one like a two-pronged fork. Habitat on 

 tree-trunks and fences " (* Berlinisches Magazin,' iii., 402). Guenee 

 says : " The type of this Xylina is not found in France nor in south- 

 ern countries. It is of a slaty tint above and of a rosy-grey or lightly 

 vinous below" (* Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 118). The pale form is 



