VARIETIES OF NOCTFJE 



Bloomfield's Lepidoptera of Suffolk,' p. 23, we read : * Larvse of this 

 rare species were taken by Mr. E. Skepper and the Rev. A. H. 

 Wratislaw. Some of these were sent to Mr. Doubleday, and were 

 described and figured by Mr. Buckler.' It is also recorded on the same 

 page from Lakenheath, Barton Mills and Higham in Suffolk, by Messrs. 

 T. and J. Brown " (< Ent. Record ' &o., vol. ii., pp. 63-64). This was 

 written in June 1891, and in the following month, Mr. South, after 

 stating the opinions of Messrs. Harwood, Robson and Dobree, that 

 RcropJudariat resembled lychnitis, wrote : " Possibly, however, scropbu- 

 larice may be a form of verbasci" although he had previously stated 

 that " the insect known as Cticullia scrophularice has always been an 

 enigma to me," a condition of mind certainly, not likely to strike one 

 as being at all favourable to the formation of any useful conclusion. I 

 fail to see any similarity to verbasci in the specimens I have of undoubted 

 scrophularice. Capieux described the larva of the species as " the 

 Braunwurz Noctua, N. scrophularice." Treitschke's diagnosis of the 

 imago is " Cucillia alis anticis medio ex albido flavis, marginibus 

 fuscis ; posticis albidis, fascia fusca " (' Die Schmet.' etc., vol. v., pt. 3., 

 p. 130). He further writes : " The present species (scrophularice) has 

 a yellow tinge, whilst verbasci is more blackish and dark brown. The 

 parts which in the latter are yellowish, for example the median ner- 

 vure on the forewings, are uniformly white in scrophulariae, and the 

 blurred white spots in rerbasci are more distinct in its ally. The fore- 

 wings are shorter and of more equal width, the moth on the whole 

 being smaller. The spots above the median nervure are fainter. A 

 similar comparison may be made between verbasci and scrophularice as 

 between thasiphaga and blattarice, but the larvae of the latter are very 

 different from the species under consideration. The underside of 

 scrophulariof is, compared with the upper surface, much whiter, and less 

 dusted with brown. Capieux of Leipzic, of whose zeal I was myself 

 a witness, first described the larva. He found it in the middle of July 

 in shady places on Scrophularia nodosa, but they are found also on 

 Verbascum near Vienna, but always later than verbasci" (I.e. pp. 131- 

 133). This species varies more in size, I believe, than any other in the 

 genus, some of my specimens being exceedingly small. Esper's diag- 

 nosis is : " Alis deflexis obsoletis, marginibus lateralibus fuscis (Minor 

 Phalcena verbasci, alisque linearibus tenuioribus). Differt larva virescenti 

 alba. Habitat in Scrophularia " (' Die Schmet. in Abbildungen,' etc., p. 5). 



Cucullia, Schrk., lychnitis, Rbr. 



Guenee writes : " There is no doubt in my mind about the 

 validity of this species. Its time of emergence suffices to confirm all 

 the characters which distinguish it " (* Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 128). 

 He then adds that " Herrich-Schaffer mixed the species with scrophu- 

 lariphaga and thapsiphaga, evidently not knowing the species in nature." 

 This latter suggestion of Guenee is certainly a most fruitful source of 

 error when authors determine closely allied species. Guene'e writes : 

 " The superior wings are very narrow, slightly toothed, with the 

 lower half of the fringe darker, of a very clear yellow-ochreous, 

 neither tinted with reddish nor with grey, the pale part which is 

 above the inner triangle reduced to a single indistinct white spot 

 before the crescent ; this triangle less intense and rediiced almost to a 



