30 VARIETIES OP NOCTTL32 



Morpeth, Wicken, Dundee and Clevedon. This may be var. mono- 

 gramma, Alph. (1887). 



Plusia, Och., bimaculata, Stphs. (verticillata, Gn.). 



Guene'e describes this species under the name of verticillata as 

 follows : " Extremely near to chalcites, Esp., and rogationis, Gn., but 

 it is a little smaller, generally paler, of a grey colour barely shaded 

 with reddish, with the metallic parts of a greenish-grey colour in- 

 stead of being golden ; the complete basal line distinctly formed of 

 three lunules ; the silvery markings clearer ; the subterminal more 

 strongly marked and twining round as a black streak at the first 

 inferior nervule. Inferior wings unicolorous, even on their under- 

 sides, or, at least, without appreciable markings etc." (' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. vi., p. 344). The species is said by Guenee to inhabit " Java, the 

 East Indies, Pondicherry etc." Stephens' original description of the 

 type is as follows : " Alis anticis fusco-brunneo ferrugineoque variis 

 maculis duabus aureis (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 8 lin.)" " Head, thorax and 

 abdomen as in the last described (percontationis) : anterior wings varied 

 with fuscous-brown and ferruginous, with a biundulated golden striga 

 at the base, enclosing a black spot ; then another, similarly coloured, 

 before the stigmata, much angulated at its origin on the costa, and 

 waved interiorly, followed, behind the stigmata, by an obscure crenu- 

 lated bent one, without metallic ornament ; stigmata very obsolete, 

 without golden edges : on the disc are two large bright golden spots, 

 the anterior emarginated towards the base and rounded posteriorly ; 

 the hinder triangular-ovate ; between the anterior and the costa is a 

 faint golden lunule as in Plusia iota ; cilia rufescent, immaculate ; 

 posterior wings reddish-ash, with a central lunule, an oblique striga, 

 the hinder margin and the nervures dusky. A single example of this 

 beautiful and remarkably distinct species which is not the inscripta 

 of Esper was obtained by me from the Marshamian collection where 

 it was placed as the opposite sex of PL iota. Of its locality I am 

 ignorant" (' Illustrations,' iii., p. 102). Humphrey and Westwood 

 after quoting this original description of Stephens write : " A single 

 specimen of this species is in the unrivalled collection of J. F. Stephens, 

 Esq. (whose description we have quoted above) but its locality is un- 

 known. Mr. Curtis regarded it as a probable variety of Plusia iota, 

 whilst Mr. H. Doubleday has omitted it from the list of British 

 NocTTL2B, considering it, as he informs me, as an apparently North 

 American species " (' British Moths,' p. 232). 



Of the correct nomenclature of this species Dr. Mason writes : 

 " In the collection of the late Mr. Edwin Brown I found an insect 

 with the printed label, " bimaculata" and a reference to its 

 reception from Carter of Manchester. This had been placed 

 under P. iota, and I have never closely examined it until the other 

 day, when I received a specimen of P. verticillata, Gn. from Dr. 

 Staudinger. This reminded me of the old specimen, and on comparing 

 them, I found them to be examples of the same species. On reading 

 Stephens' description of P. bimaculata, there is no doubt that it is a 

 good and sufficient description of the species named verticillata by 

 Guenee. To make sure of the correctness of the identification, Messrs. 

 Kirby and Warren kindly examined the Stephensian collection, and 



