108 VARIETIES OF NOCTtTJE 



tralium sylvis, Julio " (' Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Nat. de Moscou,' 

 1843, pt. iii., p. 547). Certainly this description applies very well to 

 our very dark Irish forms of this species (furva), but it is impossible 

 to give a critical determination without specimens. 



Mamestra, Och., perricariat, Linn. 



Vol. i., p. 117. Mamestra persicarice var. unicolor, Stdgr. This 

 variety, which is so rare in England, although fairly common in many 

 parts of Europe, is recorded by Mons. Oberthiir from the Isle of Askold. 

 He writes : " From Askold I obtained one $ of the type (of M. per- 

 sicarice) ordinarily found in Europe, and two others in which the 

 ordinary white spot of the superior wing is merged in the ground 

 colour " (' Etudes d' Entomologie,' v., p. 72). 



Pachetra, Gn., leucophced, View. 



Vol. i., p. 121. Pachetra leucophcea var. pyrenaica, Oberthiir. 

 The local race which has been thus named is described by Oberthiir : 

 " This is a very remarkable and very constant race, distinct from the 

 ordinary French type by the darker colour of the wings. It appears 

 that the leucophcea from Oauterets, are entirely covered with a blackish 

 slaty-grey tint, on which only the black stigmata and the white circles 

 which surround the orbicular and reniform stand out conspicuously " 

 (' Etudes d' Entomologie, 'viii., p. 50). Oberthiir then adds : " The 

 imagines at Cauterets appear to incline to the same rules of melanic 

 variation as in England " (/. c.). 



Vol. i., p. 122. Pachetraleucophceavar. bombycina, Ev. The original 

 description of Eversmann's variety is as follows : " Hadena, antennis 

 pectinatis ; alis anticis fuscis griseo-nebulosis macularum ordinariarum 

 marginibus, nervis dentibusque duobus externis albis ; maculae reni- 

 formis basi lata. Minor quam H. leucophcea, qua cum aliquando conf udi, 

 sed ei simillima. Antennae eodem modo, ac in ilia, late pectinatse ; 

 alae anticae eodem colore eodemque modo dentibus duobus albis aut 

 albidis, in marginem externum excurrentibus, signatae sunt; sed 

 macula sic dicta media seu reniformis, est alia : ejus basis sat lata et 

 recta nervo mediano per totam extensionem insidet et angulus maculae 

 internus, acutus protensusque, in nervum ilium excurrit. Ceterum 

 maculae ordinariae (rotunda et reniformis) sunt fuscae, albo-circum- 

 scriptae ; nervi praecipue medianus et posticus, albi aut albidi. Alae 

 posticae fuscescentes, lunula media lineaque externa fuscis. Subtus 

 alae pariter non differunt ab alis leucophcece. Habitat in promontoriis 

 Uralensibus " (' Bulletin de la Societe Imp. des Nat. de Moscou' &c., 

 1847, pt. iii., p. 78). 



Eversmann gave another description in 1856, and then notes : 

 " Measures 16-17 lines. It offers some affinities with leucophcea. An- 

 tennae of the male pectinated. Superior wings of a dark brown, shaded 

 with paler brown, with the cubital and median space followed entirely 

 by a whitish band ; the subterminal line white and a little crenulate, and 

 containing two white and very sharp teeth, which originate in the 

 band, the teeth being prolonged into the fringe. The two median 

 transverse lines black, and edged with whitish on the opposite sides ; 

 the inner one wavy, the outer bent inferiorly and toothed in its upper 

 part. The stigmata brown with white edging, surrounded with black. 

 The reniform with its base large and joined to the median nervure, 



