54: VARIETIES OF 



xiith., p. 841). From this it will be seen that Linnaeus had a suffused 

 brown form before him when he described the species. 



a. var. rejecta, Fischer. Fischer de Waldheim in the 'Ento- 

 mographie de la Russie ' etc., i., p. 197, describes and figures a 

 specimen with black hind wings, which Staudinger refers, as a 

 probable aberration, to this species, simply noting : " Alis posterioribus 

 nigricantibus " (' Catalog,' p. 137). Guenee also treats this as a variety 

 of sponsa and writes : " It differs according to Fischer de Waldheim 

 (for I have not seen it in nature) by the inferior wings being entirely 

 black, with a clear rosy line situated behind the place of the median 

 band. The anus is rosy. The superior wings have a more bluish and 

 more unicolorous appearance, and the white spot which precedes the 

 ordinary stigma is paler and larger. I look on this as an accidental 

 variety " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vii., p. 91). 



Catocala, Schrk., promised, Esp. 



This species loses to a great extent the ochreous tint characteristic 

 of the fore wings in sponsa, and the ground colour is essentially either 

 lighter or darker grey, whilst the central band is in this species, much 

 more persistent and marked, it being the rule for it to be fairly com- 

 plete, especially where it is in contact with the basal line. The 

 angulated line is very much curved under the stigmata and meets the 

 inner margin quite close to the basal line, in fact, in some specimens, 

 they appear to meet. Guenee writes : " Engramelle represents (fig. 

 569 g) an accidental pale variety, and in 569 i k, on the contrary, a 

 variety with the inferior wings of a red colour almost black, obtained 

 from the collection of Gerning. Care must be taken not to confound 

 with this species, fig. 3 of Eoesel, and 569 h of Engramelle which 

 represent sponsa " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vii., p. 90). Esper's diagnosis of 

 the type is as follows : " Noctua spirilinguis cristata alis cinereis nigro 

 alboque nebulosis : inferioribus sanguineis fasciis duobus nigris, prima 

 tenuissima, angulata ; abdomine cinereo " (' Die Schmet. in Abbild.,' p. 

 116). Treitschke writes : " Promissa is, in size, much like sponsa, but 

 often smaller. The ground colour is whitish-grey mixed with yellow- 

 brown and having black hairs and coarse scales. The thorax and 

 collar of the same colour, the latter darkly bordered and tinged with 

 yellow ; the shoulder blades have a blackish border ; the body above 

 yellowish ash-grey, below whitish-grey ; chest yellowish-white ; the 

 antennae brown-grey ; legs black with white rings. The whitish-grey 

 fore wings are clouded with yellowish and black shades. The basal 

 area has two very distinct transverse lines, both black, which form a 

 band filled out with yellow or grey. In the middle of the wing 

 stands on a light streak, the reniform, and below, an irregular round 

 spot .surrounded with black, peculiar to the species of this genus. 

 The elbowed and subterminal lines are bordered by rust-coloured 

 bands ; the former is shaped like an M at the reniform, and is more 

 indistinct than the light (white), brown-bordered subterminal line, 

 which runs quite straight, the fringes are brown and black, spotted 

 with white and black streaks (dashes) towards the inside and are 

 crossed by dark lines." Of its variation he further writes : " Pro- 

 missa, like its congeners, is subject to considerable variation in colour 

 and size. Like sponsa, its colour varies from black-brown to yellow ; 



