156 THE entomologist's becord. 



wings smoky black-brown, the discoidal spots being scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from the ground-colour. In many of the females there 

 is a distinctly darker broad median band. Hind-wings, pure silvery- 

 white in the males, smoky-brown in the females." Meyrick {Hand- 

 hook, p. 58) says: — " Fore-Avings rather dark fuscous, discal area 

 darker ; first and second lines and margins of spots finely darker, very 

 obscure subterminal line obscurely darker edged anteriorly. Hind- 

 wings of male, white, of female, fuscous." 



All these evidently ignore variation from the type, and it will be 

 observed that they take no notice of the magnificent forms which have 

 been collected of late years. Tutt {British Noctiiae and their Varieties, 

 vol. iii., pp. 53-59) goes much more deeply into the matter, but, after 

 examining my specimens most carefully by the light of this exhaustive 

 treatise, I was obliged to refer the matter to Mr. Tutt himself for 

 elucidation, for the reason that it appeared to me that some of my 

 takings are not described even there. In the following remarks I have 

 been kindly assisted by Mr. Tutt, who, with the more abundant 

 material at his disposal, has been kind enough to point out to me 

 what he judges to be most worthy of note. 



As the most comprehensive description of A'. Intidenta, in its 

 different forms, I take British Noctuae and their Varieties for my 

 guidance. The type is described by Borkhausen thus :— " The size of 

 Koctua excUunationis. Ground colour of the fore-wings dull brown- 

 black, slightly glossy, and tinted with reddish-ochreous, which, how- 

 ever, is only seen in fresh specimens. There are three indistinct, 

 somewhat darker bordered, transverse lines. Close to the hind margin 

 is a lighter angulated line, which forms a Latin w in the middle." 

 "The fore-wings are blackish-brown, glossy, with an obsolete dot in the 

 middle. Hind-wings whitish, shaded with black-brown on the costa. 

 In some varieties the transverse lines are scarcely to be seen, there 

 being, indeed, only a faint trace of them" {Xaturi/eschieJite, &c., p. 576). 



So far the type. As to the known aberrations, Mr. Tutt points out 

 the errors into Avhich Dr. Staudinger and, following him, Mr. W. F. 

 de V. Kane appeared to have fallen. He lays special stress upon, and 

 describes at length, the beautiful aberrations found in Scotland and 

 Ireland, which principally differ from the typical form by their intense 

 blackness, the ground colour of the upper wings resembling that of 

 Epunda ni(jra. Mr. Tutt assures me that there is no doubt that the 

 Kent form (and I presume the Essex type form likewise) and the 

 ordinary Continental forms are practically identical. 



This material, captured at Mucking, comes in as a sort of supple- 

 ment to the account in Mr. Tutt's book, of which I give a short 

 synopsis. He arranges his forms thus : — 



(1^ F.-w. unicolorous ashy-grey = ab. conabnilis, Stephens. 



(2) F.-w. unicolorous brown-black = Intidenta, Borkhausen. 



(3) F.-w. ashy-grey with black central band = ab. sedi, Gn. 



(4) F.-w. glossy-black with blacker lines = ab. luneliurijoisis, Frr. 

 (5^ F.-w. glossy-black with white lines = ab. albidilinea, Tutt. 



(6) F.-w. as (4), but having white spots in reniform = ab. tripuneta, Frr. 



In this list it will be noticed that the tj'pe form alone has a brownish 

 coloration. 



Now, with the exception of seven specimens, the whole of my 

 captures are brownish, while at the same time they follow closely the 



