IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 105 



cinereo, vix atomosis, striga postica curvata ex punctis obsoletis fuscis 

 6 : posticis albis." " Affinis JV. crassicornis " (' Trans. Ent. Soc. London ' 

 (Old Series), 1812, p. 336). 



Helotropha, Ld., leucostigma, Hb. 



Vol. i., p. 67. Helotropha leucostigma var. Icevis, Btl. Butler in 

 the < Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.' 1890, p. 679, refers his Cerastis Icevis 

 ('Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.,' 1881, p. 181) to this species, and writes: 

 " The type of C. Icevis is an unusually large dark male, the markings 

 upon which are ill-defined ; there is, however, no question of its 

 identity with this species." Cerastis is a very strange genus to which 

 to refer a species like leucostigma. At the same time a true Helotropha, 

 the American reniformis, is placed by Butler in Mamestra. I wonder 

 why ! 



Vol. i., p. 67. There is an American species called Helotropha 

 reniformis in Grote's ' Check List,' and this appears to be identical with 

 our leucostigma. The type is, in the British Museum, placed by Mr. 

 Butler among the species in Mamestra. It has a var. atra. Mr. Grote 

 in answer to a query of mine wrote : " Helotropha reniformis is 

 probably a representative species differing specifically from fibrosa 

 (leucostigma), but this is yet uncertain. The var. atra I described as 

 follows : ' H. reniformis var. atra. The fore wings are entirely of 

 a dead black, so that the markings become inconspicuous, and can only 

 be made out with difficulty. The reniform is, however, entirely white 

 and becomes very prominent by contrast. The hind wings are more 

 blackish than brownish-fuscous, as is also the under surface and the 

 body ' (' Proc. Acad. N. S. Phil.,' 200, 1874) " (in. litt.). Regarding 

 reniformis, I can only express an opinion for what it is worth, that reni- 

 formis appears to equal our leucostigma in every particular. 



Xylophasia, St., rurea, Fab. 



Vol. i., p. 76. Xylophasia rurea var. exstincta, Stdgr. In the 

 'Zoological Record' for 1890 (Insecta), p. 56, is a reference to 

 Staudinger's description of this variety in the ' Stettiner entomologische 

 Zeitung,' vol. 1., p. 42. Staudinger describes the variety as follows : 

 " Hadena rurea var. exstincta, Stdgr. This is an analogous variety to 

 H. basilinea var. grisescens, being an obsoletely marked, grey local form 

 of rurea, of which Herr Tancre sent to me a with the three specimens 

 of var. grisescens. Although there is again the same failure of the black 

 markings in the basal streaks of the fore wings, yet the undersides 

 immediately separate rurea var. exstincta from basilinea var. grisescens. 

 The female specimens lying before me are somewhat smaller than 

 typical rurea, of a light grey colour slightly shaded with light brown 

 and almost obsolete markings. Of the three stigmata, the claviform 

 and orbicular are faintly distinguishable by means of the light brown 

 edging to them, whilst the reniform stands out conspicuously owing 

 to its white edging and dark centre. In one female the wing is divided 

 into two parts (the one above the stigmata and also beyond it) darker, 

 with the inner margin and upper-half of the anal angle paler. The 

 light brown transverse lines are perceived to be quite rudimentary, 

 and the black and white spots on the nervures at the outer edge are in 



