IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 91 



Vol. i., p. 25. Viminia euphorbice var. myricce, Gn. In vol. i., 

 p. 25, I said : " It is useless to redescribe a species which is in all 

 our collections," &c. I have since then been most careful to give in 

 every possible instance the earliest recognised description of each 

 species and described form and, therefore, now add Guenee's original 

 description. He writes : " This has the shape and is of the size of 

 euphrasice. The superior wings are distinctly more prolonged at the apex, 

 or, if one prefers it, the outer margin is cut more obliquely, of a deep, 

 dark, and uniform greyish tint strongly powdered, and with the mark- 

 ings black. The median lines very distinct, that of the lunules of 

 the elbowed line, which is placed below the 4th inferior, tending to 

 form a small annular spot. The ordinary stigmata well marked, the 

 orbicular always smaller in the male. The fringe strongly intersected, 

 and having the lower half concolorous with the wing. The inferior 

 wings of a white, which is slightly tinged with violet ; the nervures 

 and the small terminal dots blackish. Their undersides have a cellular 

 dot and the commencement of a transverse line near the edge. The 

 is altogether similar in the superior wings, but the inferior wings 

 are of a dark, uniform greyish-black, with white fringes " (' Noctuelles,' 

 vol. v., p. 59). Guenee then further adds: "This pretty Acronycta 

 appears to me very distinct from its neighbours. I do not think that 

 it is referable to the dbscondita of certain authors, although it appears 

 at first sight to have many characters common with it. It is found in 

 marshy places, principally in the county of Perth. Its larva feeds on 

 Myrica gale and Salix caprcea " (I.e.). 



Viminia, Chpmn., rumicis, L. 



Vol. i., p. 25. Viminia rumicis var. turanica, Stdgr. Of this 

 form from Central Asia, Dr. Staudinger writes : " Acronycta rumicis 

 var. turanica, Stdgr. I have received this species in quantity from 

 almost all Central Asiatic localities from which I have received insects, 

 particularly, however, from Margelan, Samarkand and Osch. A 

 specimen was captured on the 15th March and another on the 10th of 

 August, so that there appears to be two generations. I believe it to 

 agree with rumicis although larger (33-40 mm.), and directly pointing 

 out turanica simply as a pale local form of the first degree. Par- 

 ticularly striking about turanica are the almost entirely white hind 

 wings only having a faint, almost obsoletely marked blackish-grey 

 band, generally just before the outer margin. In a female from 

 Margelan it is tolerably grey even in the inner part of the wing, and 

 specimens from Saisan form, with regard to the hind wings, good 

 intermediates between rumicis and turanica. The latter (turanica) has 

 also considerably lighter grey fore wings mixed with blackish, 

 although I received a single female in which an almost entirely 

 greyish-black tone, similar to that which occurs now and again in rumicis, 

 prevailed, only in this specimen, not of so dark a black and being at the 

 same time, powdered with paler scales. The markings (transverse lines 

 and stigmata) are almost similar although certainly rather modified 

 from those of rumicis. The outer transverse line is in turanica 

 generally not so sharply or distinctly toothed, although specimens 

 exhibit precisely the same sharp dentate character of rumicis. That 

 the white spot at the lower end of this transverse line is not so 

 strongly developed and marked in the pale turanica compared with 



