10 VARIETIES OF NOCTTLE 



Herrich-Schaffer himself writes : " I take carthami for a var. of 

 ostrina, in which the ground colour is pale sulphur and the markings 

 absent. The brown spot near the tip as well as the adjoining black 

 dot and the black dot in the centre, quite agree with those in ostrina. 

 A smaller and still paler specimen was captured by Lederer near 

 Ronda, and was sent to me as undalis " (' System. Bearbeitung ' etc., 

 p. 438). This would appear to be the form which I have in my col- 

 lection. 



y. var. porphyrina, Frr. Staudinger's diagnosis of this variety 

 is : " Al. ant. albicantibus [exterius roseis], fasciis media et postica 

 obscuris " (' Catalog/ p. 133). Guenee writes of it : " Larger. Basal 

 space, concolorous with the rest of the wing, which is of a rosy- white 

 or yellowish ; a straight median band, uniformly brown but passing 

 gradually into the ground colour on its edges, interrupted at the 

 median and sub-median nervures, and contiguous with the little 

 cellular dot. Costal streaks and apical nervures not marked in rosy " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 247). He then adds : " This large variety 

 appears at first sight, wholly different from the type " (I. c.). Freyer's 

 own note on this variety is as follows : " Mr. Kindermann sent me 

 this pretty species as a var. of Hiibner's ostrina, with the remark that 

 M. Kambur of Paris had determined it as a distinct species under 

 the above name. I do not know Hiibner's ostrina, but judging from 

 the figure, M. Rambur appears to be right. It is somewhat larger 

 than the preceding. The thorax and fore wings are yellowish-white. 

 The latter have a light brown band running through the middle, which 

 divides into two branches on the costa under which is a black dot. At 

 the base is also a faint trace of a brown band. The tip is coffee-brown 

 in colour, and behind it, a zig-zag band runs to the inner margin, twice 

 curved towards the outside, and edged with dark brown on its inner 

 margin. The fringes are brownish, with the body and hind wings 

 greyish-white, the latter with pure white fringes. It flies in the Ural " 

 (' Neuere Beitrage ' etc., pp. 93-94). 



Thalpochares, Ld., parva, Hb. 



This is a very rare species in Britain, and probably much over- 

 looked. Guenee writes : " It is not rare (in France), but its very small 

 size causes it to be overlooked " (' Noctuelles,' vi., p. 246). The 

 description I made of Hiibner's type is as follows : " Anterior wings 

 reddish-grey, with a pale transverse line near the centre of the wing 

 internally edged with darker ; a semilunar costal mark near the apex ; 

 a small dark dot above the anal angle. The base of the wing and the 

 apical mark much darker red than the rest of the wing. Posterior 

 wings grey with a dark marginal and another dark median shade " 

 (' Sammlung europ. Schmet.,' fig. 356). It will be seen that this 

 figure differs somewhat from the figure in Newman's * British Moths,' 

 p. 447, which appears to agree rather with Guenee's var. A. Of 

 Micro, parva, Mr. Stainton writes : " Of this insect, execrably figured 

 by Hiibner, a passable likeness is given by Duponchel (under the name 

 of minuta) ; his description, however, is far more satisfactory than his 

 figure. Several years ago, Mr. Doubleday saw a specimen which had 

 been taken at Teignmouth, by Mr. Jordan, but it was so mutilated as 

 to be unrecognisable. In the past summer, Dr. Battersby of Torquay 



