IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 21 



reniform in appearance and very conspicuous, although, of course, it 

 has nothing to do with the reniform stigma. Moneta is very 

 distinct from any other British species, and in a considerable number 

 of foreign specimens I notice no variation. Mr. Dobree however 

 writes : " Of P. moneta there is a not uncommon variety of the imago 

 in Amurland (Siberia), in which the fore wings are of a shining 

 silvery-white, instead of the golden-grey colour of the type. I have 

 specimens of both " (' Entom.,' xxiii., p. 344). Guenee says of this 

 species : " It is the most common of this beautiful group," and adds 

 that " M. Boisduval has bred it in numbers in Normandy " (' Noctu- 

 elles,' vol. vi., p. 332). 



Of the appearance of this species in Britain Mr. C. G. Barrett 

 writes : " It is a rather curious fact but one well established, that 

 those seasons which are remarkable for unfavourable weather and 

 consequent scarcity of insects, are noticeable for the occurrence of un- 

 expected novelties or rarities. Possibly the wretched weather (which 

 is not usually confined to these Islands), induces restlessness on the 

 part of insects and a desire to " better their position " by migration, 

 and so influx of strangers comes about. This season the interesting 

 visitor appears to be Plusia moneta, Fab., of which a specimen has 

 already been recorded this year in another magazine. The first speci- 

 men noticed was taken hovering over a Delphinium blossom in a garden at 

 Dover, by a schoolboy, on June 25th. It was brought to Mr. Sydney 

 Webb, in whose collection it is now. Another was taken by Mr. W. 

 Holland, flying about a gas lamp at a railway station near Beading, 

 on the night of July 2nd, and is now before me. It is a beautiful 

 specimen, but paler than Mr. Webb's and not quite so large, the latter 

 being of the largest size usually obtained by species. This is a most 

 lovely species, as large as P. orichalcea, almost the whole of the fore 

 wings being of a pale yellowish-brown or yellowish-grey, suffused 

 with pale golden, with a narrow, darker golden-brown central band 

 or irregular fascia. The greater part of the hinder margin is broadly 

 tinged with violet. The orbicular stigma is nearly round, bright 

 golden, and beneath it is a similar spot of the same colour, the two 

 forming a sort of 8-mark, or two tiny yellow coins, hence the name. 

 The hind wings are pale grey with darker nervures ; the palpi are 

 long and somewhat recurved. Plusia moneta is widely distributed in 

 Europe, and is said by Kirby chiefly to frequent mountainous districts. 

 It occurs in the East and South of France, and much interest would 

 attach to any information attainable, as to whether it has this year 

 been noticed in the northern and western portions of that country. It 

 is a most welcome addition to our fauna, and as its food-plant, the 

 monkshood (Aconitum), grows in every cottage garden, there seems no 

 especial reason why it should not become a permanent resident" 

 (< Ent. Mo. Mag.,' vol. xxvi., p. 255). The Editors of the * Ent. Mo. 

 Mag.' further write: "At a meeting of the French Entomological 

 Society on December 10th, 1890, the veteran lepidopterist, Mons. J. 

 Fallou announced (' Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr.,' pp. ccxi.), that he had captured 

 a specimen of this insect at Champrosay (Seine-et-Oise), not far from 

 Paris, in June, 1890, for the first time during the twenty years he 

 has resided there. He also gave some general notes on its occurrence 

 in France,. commencing with Duponchel (vol. vii., 2, p. 63, 1829), who 



