110 VARIETIES OF NOCTtlJB 



2a. Ashy-grey, with dark blackish central shade = var. virgata. 

 2b. Ashy-grey, blackish from base to central shade = var. suffusa. 

 3. Dark unicolorous ashy-grey = var. cinerascens, Stdgr. 



a. var. paUida, mihi. This is the Cannock Chase form of the 

 species, which is of a pale ashy-grey colour with much white between 

 the angulated line and outer margin. The central shade is always 

 ill-developed, in fact, is usually more or less obsolete in this pale form. 

 Comparing this with some specimens of the darker banded form taken 

 by Mr. Harrison of Barnsley, the Rev. C. F. Thornewill writes: 

 " The specimens from Barnsley are very different in tint compared 

 with those we find on Cannock Chase. I had previously heard of the 

 difference from Mr. Porritt of Huddersfield, who also informs me 

 that the species appears to be becoming scarcer in that district, whilst 

 the very reverse is the case with us " (in Hit.) ; whilst Mr. Fenn 

 adds : " The specimens of solidaginis from Barnsley are darker than 

 anything I have captured, although some years ago I took the insect 

 very freely at Rannoch " (in Hit.). The Rannoch specimens, which I 

 have, come near var. paUida, and have the outer margin beyond the 

 subterminal very pale, although the area between the angulated and 

 subterminal lines is not so pale as in the Cannock Chase specimens. 



/3. var. virgata, mihi. This is a simple sub-var. of the type in 

 which the brown central shade or fascia is replaced by black, some- 

 times very intense, and sometimes covering not only the central area 

 of the wing, but extending to the base (== sub-var. suffusa). This 

 (virgata) appears to be the more ordinary form obtained in south 

 Yorkshire. It is a very rare form on Cannock Chase, where var. paUida 

 is so abundant. At ' The Brushes ' (Manchester), it is a not uncommon 

 form, neither is it at Aberdeen. In sub-var. snffusa, the whole area 

 from the central fascia to the base is suffused with blackish. I have 

 only this form from Aberdeen. The ochreous area along the costa is 

 also very much reduced. 



y. var. cinerascens, Stdgr. Staudinger's short diagnosis of this 

 variety is : " Magis unicolor, cinerascens " (' Catalog,' p. 120), and the 

 locality he gives is " North Germany." This would appear to be the 

 dark ashy almost unicolorous form of the species we occasionally get 

 from Aberdeen. I have a specimen perfectly unicolorous with the 

 exception of a few black dots on the outer edge of the reniform, and 

 two black cuneiform spots. The ochreous markings along the costa 

 are replaced by the dark ashy-ground colour in this variety. I have 

 this form only from Aberdeen. 



Cucullia, Schrk. 



Probably there is nothing in Guenee's ' Histoire Naturelle des 

 Jnsectes ; Noctuelites ' (' Noctuelles,' as I have shortly designated the 

 work when referring to it in these vols.) so complete and interesting to 

 the student of this group as his account of the genus Cucdlia'dnd its species 

 which is to be found in vol. vi., pp. 123-152. Every student of the group 

 must read it for himself, if he wishes to understand the genus 

 thoroughly, as it is impossible to quote his remarks with anything 

 like the fulness they merit ; in fact, those on the habits and manners 

 of the larvse, pupa3 &c., would be out of place in a work of this kind, 

 which, professedly, deals with the imagines and their variations. 



