3fi VARIETIES OF NOOTFJE 



(' Entom.,' xxii., p. 74). Mr. Cockerell also notes that Plusia brassicce, 

 Riley, is by some regarded as a form of P. w, Hb. (' Ent. Mo. Mag.,' 

 vol. xxv., p. 324). 



Phisia, Och., interrogations , Linn. 



The great character in this species is the endless variation which 

 the central silvery mark or character undergoes. Truly no two are 

 alike, and to look down a long series of interrogationis at this mark, is 

 something like looking at a series of Chinese characters. Some are 

 like the normal mark in iota and pulchrina, composed of a v and dot ; 

 others have them united as in gamma ; others, again, are like the 

 Greek c ; one forms a tiny solid blotch as in bractea, and so on. As 

 is so frequently the case in species having the peculiar glaucous tint 

 possessed by this, and which seems so characteristic of moorland species, 

 especially in northern latitudes, some of the specimens have a delicate 

 rosy tint, otherwise there appears to be but little variation in the 

 method and arrangement of the markings. The pale band in the 

 centre of the hind wings is rather like those of jota and pitlchrina, and 

 does not spread to the base as in gamma. Guenee says : " I dare not 

 cite Haworth's reference, as he says that the colour is very much mixed 

 with rosy " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 354). Our British specimens are, 

 as I have previously mentioned, often strongly tinted with rose-colour, 

 so that Guenee was evidently unacquainted with British specimens. 

 The type is thus described by Linnaeus : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata, 

 alis deflexis superioribus cinereis signo ? albo inscriptis " (' Sy sterna 

 Naturse,' xth., p. 513). The variation in the characteristic mark of 

 interrogationis, was remarked by Zetterstedt who wrote : " Variat 

 saepe signo argenteo inscripto, punctisque ejusdem coloris subscriptis 

 2 aut par vis discretis, aut majoribus in unum confluentibus " (' Insecta 

 Lapponica,' p. 948). Mons. Oberthiir records this species from Cau- 

 terets (Pyrenees) as follows : " An obscure form, conforming to the 

 general rule of the coloration of the NOCTUJE in the Hautes-Pyrenees " 

 ('Etudes d'entomologie,' viii., p. 51). 



a. var. rosea, mihi. Some of our British specimens are beautifully 

 tinted with rose-colour. This is the form described by Haworth who 

 writes : "Phytometra alis cinereo f usco roseoque variis, in medio littera 

 v punctoque contiguo argenteis." " Praecedentibus (gamma) differt 

 statura minore, alis anticis roseo cinereo fuscoque perpulchre variegatis, 

 et potissimum charactere argenteo. Cilia rosea fusco maculata " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 257), to which he adds : " This species 

 was known to Harris as above cited, where he remarks it ' is a dif- 

 ferent species from the Phalcena interrogationis of Linnaeus.' In this, 

 however, he was probably mistaken, as there are hardly any doubts 

 about this being the N. interrogationis of the ' Fauna Suecicae,' although 

 Linnaeus makes no kind of mention of its beautiful purple tints. It is 

 not the interrogationis of Hiibner, nor does it exactly accord with his 

 Noctua ni : although very closely allied to both " (' Lepidoptera 

 Britannica,' p. 257). It will be seen, therefore, that whilst Guenee 

 was undecided as to our British specimens being interrogationis because 

 of their rosy tints, Haworth specially notices that Linnaeus makes no 

 mention of them. 



