IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 67 



elbowed line, and three longer longitudinal blackish streaks run from 

 the outer margin just below the apex. Hind wings dark grey " 

 (' Sammlung europ. Schmet.,' figs. 164-165). 



Mr. South describes the type as " brown, with numerous fine 

 transverse darker lines ; beyond the middle, a thick dark angulated 

 line edged externally with pale brown etc. ; the stigmata black, but 

 hardly well defined," whilst he describes a variety from Mogador 

 as : " Var. a. Expanse, 1 in. o lines. Fore wings pale reddish- 

 brown, without fine transverse lines ; the angulated line is preceded 

 by a broad triangular blackish patch enclosing the stigmata ; a smaller 

 blackish patch on the outer margin below apex " (' Entom.,' xxiii., 

 p. 270). I am totally unable to understand Mr. South's description 

 above of what he calls the type, as Hiibner's type certainly shows no 

 fine transverse darker lines, these finer lines being longitudinal, nor 

 does it show a thick dark angulated line, which is, in Hiibner's figure, 

 restricted to a series of dots. Possibly, Mr. South, simply described 

 the commonest form in the collection under his care, and called it the 

 type without knowing what the real type form was like. Guenee 

 writes : " The species varies as much as rostralis, but it is not very 

 easy to classify its varieties as races, as they pass insensibly the one 

 into the other " (' Histoire naturelle ' etc., vol. viii., p. 29). Probably 

 with a sufficiently long series it would be found that this species 

 really passes through as many gradations of colour and markings as 

 its congener, rostralis. 



The following appear to be the principal forms : 

 1. Pale grey almost whitish, with transverse lines broken or indicated 



by dots = obsitalis, Hb. 



2. Greyish-fuscous or brownish, with transverse lines obsolete or indi- 

 cated by dots= var. unicolor. 

 3. Greyish-fuscous or brownish with distinct transverse lines = var. 



transversa. 

 4. Greyish-fuscous or brownish with dark patch on centre of the 



costa = var. costipuncta. 



a. var. unicolor, mihi. This is Guenee's var. A of which he 

 writes : "The superior wings almost entirely brown, and the mark- 

 ings obliterated except the ochreous apical spot " ( Histoire naturelle ' 

 etc. (Deltoi'des), vol. viii., p. 29). This more unicolorous form is, I 

 believe, not at all uncommon on the Continent. 



13. var. transversa, mihi. This would apply to those specimens 

 which have the transverse lines distinctly marked, especially the 

 angulated line. It would appear to be also equally common with the 

 preceding and succeeding varieties. It would also appear to be the 

 form previously referred to and described by Mr. South as the type. 



y. var. costipuncta, mihi. This is a very distinctly marked and 

 variegated form, and has, in addition to the normal apical patch and 

 well-developed transverse lines of var. transversa, a dark costal patch, 

 situated in the centre of the costal margin, and extending below and 

 enclosing the stigmata. This would appear to refer to the Mogador 

 specimen previously mentioned, and described by Mr. South under the 

 name of var. a. 



