IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. Ill 



There is also another remarkably good monograph of the genus by 

 Rambur in the ' Ann. Soc. de France,' 1833 to which the attention of 

 students is directed. Guenee writes of the imagines of Cucullia : " They 

 do not lack, more than the larvae, striking characters, but by a strange 

 law of nature, they are as uniform and as wanting in brilliancy as their 

 larvae are beautiful and variable. This absence of colour and mark- 

 ings makes the species very similar to one another, and it frequently 

 happens that the most dissimilar larvae, one might almost say tjie most 

 opposite, give birth to imagines so alike, that one is only able with 

 difficulty to distinguish them, e.g., la-ctuf.ce and luctfnga, blattarice and 

 verbasci etc. One of the most remarkable points about these species 

 is the development of a collar from which their generic name has 

 arisen. The insect is able at will to decrease or augment its size, 

 depressing or raising the lobes by the contraction or expansion of the 

 membrane on which the lobes are placed. The specimens in our 

 collections have then this cowl more or less prominent, according as 

 the insect has died by a spasmodic contraction which has extended it 

 and directed it forward, or, on the contrary, as the muscular energy, 

 giving way gradually, has depressed the collar and it has almost re- 

 sumed its ordinary position. But, in all cases, the development of 

 these two parts always remains greater than in those of other NOCTUJE. 

 In their habits, these insects buzz in the evening with the greatest 

 activity around flowers, like the Sphingidce, which they recall in many 

 ways. The country par excellence for the Cucullice is Southern Russia, 

 from whence at times we get the most beautiful and numerous species. 

 The North of Europe has supplied us with a certain number, as also 

 has North America. But southern countries are very poor in them. 

 Authors have known and confounded many species, hence the sy- 

 nonomy is most difficult ; and to prevent this confusion in future, it 

 is to be desired that no new Cucullia will be figured without the larva 

 by the side of the imago. In this way, one will easily evade all 

 errors " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., pp. 124-125). Guenee also adds: "I 

 wish to observe in conclusion that it is useless to seek for stable 

 characters in the abdominal crests, the species being alternately 

 provided or unprovided with these crests. The form of the palpi 

 can no more be considered as furnishing specific characters " (I.e. 

 p. 126). Of our British species, scrophularice and lychnitis are some- 

 what difficult to distinguish, but the other species are distinct enough. 

 Gnaphalii still remains a great rarity. There is very little variation 

 in the species. Umbratica was sub-divided into four by the early 

 British authors, who believed that they detected the characters of 

 certain distinct Continental species in the slight variations that this 

 species undergoes in Britain, whilst chamomillce really does vary some- 

 what in colour and the arrangement of the dark markings. 



Cucullia, Schrk., verbasci, Linn. 



In this species, there is more reddish-brown in the ground colour of 

 most of our British specimens, than in that of its allies. Some speci- 

 mens are almost uniformly brownish with no very great difference 

 between the ordinarily paler central area of the wing, and the darker 

 costal and inner marginal areas. Sometimes these dark parts have a 

 tendency to blackish, and when, in addition, the dark inner marginal 



