58 
right hand fore-wing is fringed all round, and the claviform, placed upon 
the abnormal lobe, is double. Were it not for this position of the clavi- 
forni, one could almost persuade one’s-self that the insect possessed a 
fifth wing. 
The infinite differences in the form and development of the stigmata, 
the difference in length and width of the claviform, the almost total 
absence of both orbicular and claviform, and the smudged appearance of 
the reniform, are all noticeable, as well as the ladder-like series of lines 
between the elbowed and subterminal lines. The pale central area of the 
wing is also, in some specimens, reduced to a mere dot placed between 
the stigmata. 
I have placed in the same case six specimens of A. segetum, on account 
of remarks which visitors have made about them. These black females 
I have always taken freely, and I should like to hear to-night whether 
other collectors have also found them common. For myself, I cannot 
help thinking that the reddish unicolorous specimen at the bottom is 
the more remarkable. 
I come next to 124 specimens of A. nigricans. I may be pardoned, 
perhaps, for the confusion which I experience when I try to arrange 
them in order, and far more when I attempt to describe them, more 
particularly because I have neither taken nor noticed such varieties 
before. 
A series of six, placed in the last row, represent the pick of my 
takings in 1893, and it is curious to remember that one or two of them 
suggested A. obscura so strongly, that I had actually entered them in 
my diary as that species, with a query intimating my doubt. At that 
time, I did not possess a specimen of A. obscura to refer to, and was 
guided entirely b}^ Newman’s figure which you will all remember. I 
imagine that the distinct transverse lines in that figure led me astray. 
I was again deceived in the same manner this year by a specimen in 
the fifth column, which occurred with A. obscura and actually got mixed 
up with that species as a small specimen, and when you look at it you 
will, I think, agree that I was justified. 
The variations of A. nigricans seem to me truly remarkable. I knew 
nothing of the species three years ago. Common though it is generally 
considered, I am convinced that if a correspondent had sent me a few 
years since as A. nigricans some of the varieties in my case to-night, I 
should have put him down for an ignoramus and myself (of course) for a 
wise man. 
The differences of colour, no less than the differences of markings, are 
confusing to a degree, and one can see but little likeness between the 
almost brick-red form with yellow markings of the first, and the almost 
totally black of the last, between the almost sj^otless reddish-grey, and 
the finely-marked greyish-black. 
The last four specimens of all appeal to me most strongty, and I 
think they “take the cake,” both for coloration and for delicacy of 
pattern. I do not possess even one specimen of A. agathina, but imagine 
that these pretty little forms approach that species. 
With a series like this before me, one feels the (almost) absurdity of 
Newman's solitary figure, and also of Stainton’s six-line description: — 
“ F.-w., dull-dark brown, clouded with black, sometimes of a reddish 
tinge; the more conspicuous markings are, a short blackish streak from 
near the middle of the base ” (which, by the way Newman says, looks as 
