]32 LEPIDOPTERA. 



" before see7i thin species, and hapjjened to know nothbnj about 

 " extrema. Milbner^s figure is very coarse and badly co- 

 *^ louredf but it cannot possibly have been taken from a spe^ 

 " cimen of either concolor or iulva, and it is certainly more 

 *' like Bondii than any other species 7vith which I am ac- 

 " quainted. I placed a female by the side of Hilbner's 

 ^^ figure just now, and with the exception of the black cilia 

 " {which I believe do not exist in any other light-coloured 

 *' species of the genus) I consider it a fair figure of this spe- 

 *' cies — quite equal to Hiibnei-'s figures of the other Nona- 

 *' griae and Leucaniae; still I do not think it would be 

 '^ advisable to drop the name of Bondii without some corro- 

 *' borating evidence of its bei?ig extrema. If Herrich- 

 " Schciffer really saw Hilbner's specimen he ought to be 

 *• able to speak positively about it, but he lias figured two if 

 " not three distinct species under this name : in fact extrema 

 " seems to be a myth, for no one on the continent can produce 

 " a specimen." 



Next let us take the evidence of Dr. Herrich-Schaffer, 

 who distinctly states that Herr Mann sent him the original 

 of Hilbner's fig. 412, and that the anterior wings are broader 

 than in N.fulva, the inner margin longer, the hind margin 

 more vertical, &c., &c. ; and this description is accompanied 

 by a figure bearing exceeding resemblance to the concolor 

 oi M. Guenee. Now, if there was one character more 

 than another that, in my diagnosis, I endeavoured to lay 

 stress upon, it was that, with respect to the anterior wings 

 of N. (?) Bondii, the hind margin was less vertical than in 

 N. concolor, or indeed any other species of the group, and it 

 was this character which especially led me to give it with 

 considerable doubt as belonging at all to the genus Nona- 

 gria, 



M. Guenee in his Herculean work on the Noctuelites 



