IN TIIE BRITISH ISLANDS. 39 



cede it, partly lost in the ground colour. Fringe concolorous, 

 uniform. Inferior wings of a coppery-red, paler and duller, with the 

 fringe of an uniform grey like the costa. The four wings are equally 

 more uniform below. The thorax of an uniform brown. The con- 

 spicuous palpi very slightly grey, their third joint still sharper and 

 longer than in pyramidoides." " One $ from Silhet." " This 

 appears to replace our pyramided in the East Indies " (* Noctuelles,' 

 vol. vi., p. 414). 



Amphipyra, Och., tragopoginis, Linn. 



There is practically no variation in this species, although some 

 have a little more brown in the ground colour than others. The reni- 

 form, which is usually composed of two distinct dots, sometimes, but 

 very rarely, has them joined, whilst at other times one is obsolete. 

 The orbicular sometimes forms a small linear mark, and there is 

 occasionally a trace of the sub terminal line. The slightly darker 

 forms were called tetra by Haworth and Stephens, who probably 

 believed them to be the Continental species of that name. The 

 Linnsean description of the type is : " Plialcena Noctua tragopoginis 

 spirilinguis subcristata, alis superioribus f uscis : punctis nigris tribus 

 approximatis ; inferioribus lividis." " Kustica media, inelegans, fusca. 

 Alas superiores supra in medio punctis tribus minimis remotis, quorum 

 1 anterius, 2 posteriora. Inferiores alee lividaa " (' Fauna Suecicee,' 

 p. 316). 



a. var. tetra, Haw. Humphrey and Westwood write of this 

 variety : " This species is described as larger than the preceding (17 

 lines broad) ; the fore wings dark brown, with three dark spots placed 

 as in tragopoginis, and with several small white dots on the costa 

 near the apex, and the hind wings darker livid brown with the margin 

 brown. Mr. H. Doubleday (' Entomologist,' i., p. 262) considers this and 

 the preceding species identical. As, however, the two species are 

 given distinct by all the Continental authors, I have retained it, con- 

 sidering it probable, however, that as tetra is described as a more 

 southern species, it is doubtful whether the insects so called in England 

 may not be dark varieties of tragopoginis. The moth appears in July 

 and August " (' British Moths,' p. 151), whilst Haworth's diagnosis 

 is : " Noctua (' The Mahogany ') alis perf uscis, medio punctis tribus 

 obsoletis nigris quatuorque costalibus albis." " Caput, thorax et ala3 

 perfusca, fere nigra, atque quasi oleosa. In medio alarum puncta tria 

 contigua obsoletissima nigra, triangulatim posita. Costa fere ad 

 apicem punctis quatuor albis etiam obsoletissimis. Alee posticas livido- 

 fuscescentes fimbria fusca" (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 164; and 

 Guenee very truly observes : " The tetra of Haworth and Stephens 

 is only an insignificant variety, in which the inferior wings have a 

 very light coppery appearance " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 416). As 

 mentioned by Humphrey and Westwood, Doubleday long ago con- 

 sidered the British specimens called tetra and tragopoginis to be the 

 same species for he wrote : " I think that there is but one species in 

 this genus, at any rate, I can perceive nothing in the specimens called 

 tetra and tragopoginis, to induce me to consider them distinct species " 

 (' Entomologist/ vol. i., p. 262). 



