122 VARIETIES OP NOCTILE: 



pean gilvago and variety. Two of the specimens are similar to gilvago, 

 but they have more yellowish primaries, almost exactly like flavago 

 (for'which species, indeed, I at first mistook them), and lighter hind 

 wings, much like those of fulvago. Two other specimens show the 

 same yellow coloration of the fore wings but are almost entirely with- 

 out markings. These latter must therefore be classed as ab. palleago. 

 I received two similar specimens from Margelan, and it would appear 

 that the gilvago of Central Asia, consists of a peculiarly light variety 

 like so many other NOCTILSJ from that district " (' Stettiner entomolo- 

 gische Zeitung,' vol. xliii., pp. 46-4:7). 



Vol. in., p. 14. Xanthia gilvago var. ocellaris, Bkh. It has been 

 suggested that ocellaris, Bkh., is only the extreme form of gilvago, a 

 view held by Rossi er. With regard to this Fuchs writes : " If Eossler 

 acknowledges the existence of a form intermediate between gilvago and 

 ocellaris, and has united them in consideration thereof, the proof is in- 

 complete, for only in a certain sense can intermediate forms be said to 

 unite two supposed distinct species. My own captured gilvago and 

 ocellaris, however, leave me to believe in the identity of these species, as 

 I have one gilvago with the tips of the fore wings acutely pointed as in 

 ocellaris. All my specimens, both of gilvago and ocellaris, have been 

 taken in the noted poplar avenue of Hamburg, where gilvago is the rarer 

 and ocellaris the commoner species. The freshly emerged specimens 

 were taken on the trunks of poplars during the afternoon " (' Stettiner 

 entomologische Zeitung/ vol. xliv., p. 264). I believe the union of 

 ocellaris and gilvago has never got beyond this, and up to the present I 

 believe both species have not been bred from the same batch of eggs. 



Mellinia, Hb., circellaris, Hufn. 



Vol. iii., p. 15. Mellinia circellaris ab. nigridens, Fuchs. The 

 following is the original note referring to a description of this 

 variety : " The chief characteristic of this interesting form, which 

 contrasts strikingly with typical circellaris, is expressed by the name 

 nigridens. Not only both transverse lines, but also the nervures towards 

 the outer margin are black. Through this outer area the zigzag subter- 

 minal line shows up more distinctly on the nervures than is the case in 

 the indistinctly marked circellaris. The coloration of the fore wings 

 also shows some difference in the same direction, never appearing red- 

 dish, and generally darkened with brown scales. The species was 

 taken very freely from Sept. 12th to Oct. 5th, 1882, but only towards 

 the end of the time were a few specimens discovered belonging to this 

 aberration " (' Stettiner entomologische Zeitung,' vol. xliv., p. 263). 

 This form is apparently the var. macilenta of Hiibner (vide, ante vol. iii., 

 p. 15), or at any rate is sufficiently near to be classed with it. 



Plastenis, Bdv., retusa, Linn. 



Vol. iii., p. 19. Plastenis retusa. Butler refers his curvata 

 (' Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.,' 1886, p. 131) to this species and writes : 

 " The Japanese specimens are slightly larger and darker than most 

 European examples. When I named ' Cosmia curvata, 1 we had no Euro- 

 pean representative in the general collection. This was one of the 

 many desiderata supplied by the Zeller collection " ( Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 Lond.,' 1890, p. 681). Such an excuse as this is marvellous in one who 

 is critically dealing with the NOCTUJE of the world, and pleads igno- 

 rance of a species in every beginner's collection in this country. 



