About Polymixis xanthomista Hübner, 1819
This species, scientifically known as Polymixis xanthomista Hübner, 1819, has the following technical description and variation. The forewing is greyish white, thickly dusted with blackish grey, with the median area filled with blackish. The edges of the lines and stigmata, and the course of vein 1 are marked out with yellow scales. The upper stigmata are large and paler, and the orbicular has a dark dot in the middle. The submarginal line is preceded by wedge-shaped black marks. The hindwing of the male is white, with blackish veins and sometimes a slight grey submarginal band before the blackish marginal line; the hindwing of the female is uniformly dark grey. The more common form, nigrocincta Tr., is blacker, with yellow scales more or less obsolete. The form nivescens Stgr., from the chalk district of the Jura, Switzerland, has much whiter ground colour on the basal and marginal areas. The form statices Gregs. is a small dark race from the Isle of Man; its main difference is that the inner and outer lines that edge the blackish median area are more distinctly and broadly white, especially below the middle, and the amount of yellow scaling is variable.
