324 Mr. A. G. Butler on Nocturnal Lepidoptera 



Heliothidae. 



7. HeUothis armigera (Nos. 141 and 154). 

 Noctua armigera, Hiibner, Noct. pi. 79. fig. 370 (1805-24). 



A pair. The male (No. 141) is a faintly-marked variety 

 exactly resembling H. incarnata on the upper surface, except- 

 ing that the fringe is not rosy ; the female, on the other hand, 

 is a rather dark specimen, nearly approaching the form found 

 in New Zealand and named HeUothis conferta by Walker, 

 with which it may be conspecific ; as, however, the difference 

 between H. armigera and //. conferta is apparently only one 

 of colour, it is very doubtful whether the latter is more than 

 a variety of the former. Of the male Mr. Blackburn says : — 

 " I took three specimens flying at flowers, at an elevation of 

 about 2000 feet, on Haleakala, Maui, in May 1880 ; the 

 specimens are all identical in size and markings &c., save 

 that one (which I retain) has the marginal dark band of the 

 hind wings narrower than the other two." Of the female he 

 says : — " I took the specimen sent at a lamp in Honolulu, 

 attracted by the light ; a second, which I retain, occurred to 

 me in company with ** No. 141." 



Hypenidse. 



8. Hypena ohsoleta (No. 14) . 



Hyj)ena ohsoleta, Butler, Eut. Mouth, Mag. xiv. p. 47 (1877). 



Two specimens, one of which is an interesting variety, 

 having the central belt of the primaries bordered (narrowly 

 internally and broadly externally) with pale stramineous. 

 Mr. Blackburn still considers the species to be conspecific with 

 H. insignis ; but at present I have not sufficient evidence 

 before me to unite them, the variety now sent not being inter- 

 mediate. The following is what Mr. Blackburn says : — " I 

 feel compelled, however presumptuous it may seem in one 

 who does not profess to be a specialist in Lepidoptera, to hesi- 

 tate much in regarding ohsoleta and insignis as distinct. The 

 species (or group of species) occurs all over the Hawaiian 

 archipelago : I have specimens from Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu ; 

 I have seen it in my own garden and at an elevation of 

 4000 feet. Among twenty specimens which I have set, there 

 are only two that cannot be said to differ inter se ; and they 

 are of the form ' insignis.'' Two extreme forms I possess 

 are : — the one sooty black, with faint indications of the lines 

 which border the dark area in ' insignis • ' the other sooty 

 black, with the same lines sulphur-yellow. Another specimen 



