IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 65 



centre of the wing and also the central transverse line. Taken, but not 

 very commonly, with the darker forms in the South of England. 



/3. var. ocnrea, mihi. Of the same ground colour as the former, 

 but with the characteristic darker markings quite or almost obsolete. 

 This pale unicolorous form is comparatively rare. 



y. var. variegata, mihi. This is Guenee's var. A of which he 

 writes : " The ground colour of the fore wings more marbled ; the 

 band which follows the median, white, divided by a brown line. 

 This is found principally in southern countries. It has also its sub- 

 variety with a pale costa " (' Histoire naturelle ' etc. (Deltoi'des), vol. 

 viii., p. 32). The ground colour is of a dark grey tint, marbled with 

 rich brown transversely, and with distinct and characteristic mark- 

 ings. It is not at all an uncommon form in the South of England. 

 This is a parallel variety to the type which is also a well-marked 

 form, this being darker, however, and more richly variegated with 

 brown transverse fasciae which are frequently intersected by paler lines. 



8. var. radiatalis, Hb. Of Hiibner's type I made the following 

 description : " Anterior wings brownish-grey, with a somewhat 

 reddish-ochreous patch running longitudinally along the costa from 

 the base to the apex, narrow at both extremities and somewhat broader 

 in the centre ; a central black spot surrounded with whitish ; the 

 nervures dark and showing very distinctly. Hind wings grey, with 

 the base paler, and a small dark lunular spot " (' Sammlung europ. 

 Schrnet.,' fig. 134). Of this variety Staudinger writes : " Alis anteri- 

 oribus nigricantibus, regione costali lutescente " (' Catalog,' p. 142). 

 This does not agree with the type of the variety, as Hiibner's figure 

 certainly cannot be said to be "alis anterioribus nigricantibus." 

 Guenee writes : " All modern authors refer radiatalis, Hb. here, which 

 Hiibner himself would have subsequently recognised as a simple 

 variety, and of which Treitschke affirms having seen the original in 

 the Kadda collection. The latter author even affirms that this form 

 has been bred from the larva of rostralis. The variety should be reddish, 

 with the costa clearer and with no other markings than those of the 

 nervures which are black. But that which naturally causes much 

 doubt is the fact that the four wings are completely rounded. It can 

 only be considered at all events an accidental variety " (' Histoire 

 naturelle ' etc. (Deltoi'des), vol. viii., p. 32). This form with the pale 

 costa is not uncommon in the Southern counties of England. It is a 

 parallel variety to the var. vittatus of Haworth. 



c. var. palpalis, Fab. Guenee describes a variety which he refers 

 to the palpalis of Fabricius as : " Entirely of a very dark brown, 

 sometimes absolutely without markings, often with the trace of the 

 ordinary lines, but not distinct. The apical streak and the cellular 

 points remain in all specimens." He then adds : " This variety ap- 

 pears to me to refer to the palpalis of Fabricius, which is not, at any 

 rate, the species known by that name by modern authors. The 

 description of his Geometra hispidata appears to me to belong also to 

 the same variety. As to the palpalis of English authors, it would 

 appear to be the American species, H. scabralis " (' Histoire naturelle ' 

 etc. (Deltoi'des), vol. viii., p. 32). Fabricius describes palpalis as : 

 " Pyralis palpis porrectis thorace longioribus, alis griseis ; posticis 

 niargine crassiori albo " (' Mantissa/ p. 217). This is one of the com- 



