60 VARIETIES OP NOCTIL7E 



which stand seven small grey dots, which, however, are rarely dis- 

 tinct. The fringes are red but white towards the tip (apex). In 

 many specimens the greater half of the wings is red and only two 

 fine transverse lines are seen. The half of the wings nearest the 

 body is green dusted with red scales. The first red band is sometimes 

 divided by a thin green line. In the grey var., either all the mark- 

 ings are absent or the bands are darker with paler borders. The hind 

 wings are generally metallic green in the middle with a dull red 

 band, then a line, and a second red band against the fringes, which 

 have white tips. In other varieties these markings are suffused, or the 

 whole surface is brown -grey " (' Die Schmet.' etc., vol. v., pt. 8, 

 p. 274). 



The following appear to be the forms already described : 

 1. Green, with 2 parallel red bands = viridaria, Cl. 

 2. Fuscous, with 2 purple bands = var. cenea, Haw. 

 3. Blackish-fuscous, with darker outer margin = var. suffusa. 

 4. Unicolorous brownish or fuscous = var. fusca. 



a.var. cenea, Haw. Of Ha worth's cenea, that author writes : "Phy- 

 tometra tota fusca, alis anticis fascia obliqua pone medium margineque 

 postice late purpureis." "Alas omnes subfuscse seu fusco-picefe, vel sub- 

 inde cinerascentes, fascia anticarum pone medium subundulata satura- 

 tiore, et subinde obsolete purpurascente, utraque marginata colore palli- 

 diore. Palpi recurvi mediocres " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 266). 

 The form in which the ground colour is fuscous rather than green, but 

 in which the red or purplish bands are well developed appears to be in 

 Kent commoner than the type. 



ft. var. suffusa, mihi. This is Haworth's cenea var. /? of which 

 he writes : " Alis fusco-piceis fascia postica subundulata saturatiore " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 266). It is very rarely that blackish- 

 fuscous specimens occur in Britain. 



y. var. fusca, mihi. This is Haworth's cenea var. y of which he 

 writes : " Tota fusca absque fascia, vel purpureo " (' Lepidoptera 

 Britannica,' p. 266). It is a most common form, the wings being of a 

 dull brownish or dull olive-brown without any fasciae or purple 

 bands. It occurs frequently in all our South British localities for 

 the species. Newman writes : " All the wings in some specimens are 

 dingy olive-brown " (< British Moths,' p. 469). This form is the var. 

 A of Guenee who writes : " The purple colour has disappeared and 

 is replaced by a brown shade differing slightly from the ground 

 colour " (< Noctuelles,' vol. vii., p. 298). 



IX. Sub-class : Delto'ides, Lat. 



The Deltoides are so closely allied to the NOCTILE: that it is not 

 surprising that Dr. Staudinger included them in the latter class, and 

 there is no doubt that they are more closely allied to the NOCTUJE- 

 GENUIJUB than are some of the latter Sub-classes and families dealt with. 

 Their ova are of the usual NOOTUA shape, and their larvae resemble those 

 of the same family. The sub-class Deltoides consists of three families, the 

 Platydidce, the Hypenidw and Herminidce, of which the first has no repre- 

 sentative in Britain, the second contains eight British species, whilst the 

 last contains only seven, and of these some are very rare. The most 

 remarkable character is the presence of a " fan-foot " in most of the 



