Vol. Xxiv] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 365 



devastatrix is of universal distribution as far south as Arizona, 

 and is very largely a grass feeder. 



Tutt, in "British Xoctuae and their Varieties," \'ol. I, p. 

 Ill, refers to a British variety of ahjccta which he calls nigro- 

 distincta, as "blackish-gray with distinct markings," which he 

 says is the way Guenee described his "abjecta var. B." from 

 New York and Canada, which has been referred to devastatrix. 



Agrotis marshallana Westwood. 



This name stands in Smith's Catalogue as a synonym of 

 devastatrix, on the authority of ^^'alker, who appears to have 

 referred the name to his Mamestra contenta. The synonymy 

 unfortunately is copied by Sir George Hampson. The type of 

 contenta is a male from Nova Scotia, and is a specimen of 

 devastatrix, and so also is the Trenton Falls type of Mamestra 

 ordinaria Walk., described at the same time. Both are in the 

 British Museum. It was puzzling to find "var. marshallana 

 Westwood" referred by Tutt as a form of nigricans Linn. 

 W'hilst in England last year T looked into the matter. I found 

 the description and a figure in Humphrey & Westwood 's 

 "British Moths." which, however, was dated 1843 instead of 

 1857, as given in Smith and Hampson. (The date of the work 

 is given bv Tutt as 1841-1844.) The description is as copied 

 by Tutt, and its author states that it was made from a single 

 specimen from Mr. Marshall's collection, by whom it had been 

 taken some vears previously on a tree stump at Charing, in 

 Kent. The figure certainly did not recall devastatrix in the 

 least. At the British Museum, whilst looking through some 

 British Noctuidae not installed in the p-eneral collection, T came 

 across a female, under niqricans. labeled "ab. marshallana 

 Westw." from the Stephens' collection, and another very sim- 

 ilar specimen associated with it from the Mason collection. 

 The latter specimen had the abdomen and secondaries detach- 

 ed, but they were replaced, and both specimens were then in 

 excellent condition. Sir George Hampson and Mr. Richard 

 South, who were present at the time, agreed together that one 

 of these specimens — I am not sure which — was. within every 

 probability, the original type, and it was so labeled forthwith. 

 Both specimens were nigricans or tritici beyond a doubt, and 



