27 
reference to N. /estiva and N. confine,/ of which the following is a 
brief summary :— 
“ Our limited genus, which we call Noctua, is only a part of the 
comprehensive genus Agrotis in its broader form as accepted on the 
Continents of Europe and America. Of our species in Noctua- — N. 
subrosea and N fennica belong rather to our limited genus Agrotis, 
whilst augur should be placed apart (it has been suggested by Butler 
to restore Graphiphora for this purpose). This genus, closely allied 
to, but yet fairly separate from Agrotis , contains some very interesting 
species from the point of view of variation, but there is not the same 
polymorphic character exhibited by the species as in the latter genus. 
Noctua /estiva is the most variable species both in colour and markings. 
N dahlii and N neglecta offer a wide range of colour variation, whilst 
N glareosa varies from pale whitish-grey to intense blackish, and N. 
xanthographa goes through an almost similar range. Eestiva var. conflua 
of Treitschke has for a long time puzzled our British lepidopterists, 
more particularly it would appear, because writers in the entomological 
magazines have of late years referred to the Shetland form of this 
species, as well as to the small Scotch /estiva-Xfko form, under the 
name of conflua . These Scotch specimens are undoubtedly /estiva, 
the Shetland species being the true conflua. There is one special 
point of variation in the genus worthy of notice; I refer to the C-like 
mark passing round the orbicular in the three closely allied species 
triangulum, ditrapezium and c-nigrum. It is formed of two quadrate 
spots—one, between the orbicular and reniform, the other, beyond the 
orbicular (nearer to the base). In c-nigrum , these two spots are always 
joined by a line passing under the orbicular; in ditrapezium, they are 
more often joined than not,—in my own series about three-quarters 
are thus joined ; in triangulum , there are much fewer specimens having 
them joined than distinct. The shape of the mark thus made varies 
greatly, from two solid blocks with a line joining them, to a solid¬ 
looking letter C, whilst frequently the normally quadrate spots become 
somewhat triangular in shape, and thus tend more or less to obsolescence. 
It is remarkable that the same superficial mark is developed in Tcenio- 
campa gothica and goes through the same gradations.” The history of 
Graphiphora augur var. helvetina was then referred to, and the parallel 
variation in Noctua baia , N sobrina , Agrotis subrosea and A. hyperborea , 
in the direction of glaucous forms on the one hand and red forms on 
the other, was fully entered into. The grey type of N depuncta , as 
apart from our British form, var. mendosa, Hb., was then considered, 
and reference was made to the extreme colour variation of /V. glareosa 
and N xanthographa. Of the former species, Mr. Tutt read :—This 
species has a wide variation in ground colour, which extends from 
a pure whitish-grey to black, the characteristic short black transverse 
marks, however, being very constant in all its forms of variation, 
and standing out conspicuously even in the darkest specimens. These 
darkest specimens are, I believe, almost peculiar to the Shetland Isles, 
and are excessively rare elsewhere, although there is a record by 
Mr. Wylie in the Entomologist'’s Record etc., vol. i., p. n, of three black 
specimens having been captured in 1887, near Perth. There is also a 
beautiful variety tinged with a delicate rosy colour, as was mentioned 
in The Brit. Nod. and their Vars ., i., 11, as being of frequent occurrence 
in those species of Cuspidia and Viminia , which have a similar grey 
