no. i. BOMBYCINE MOTHS OF NORTH AMERICA— PACKARD. 177 



itive character, suggests that it is a survival possibly of rniocene tertiary times, and that it 

 once ranged over at least the whole Eurasian continent and possibly north Africa, and may 

 have been the stem or ancestral form from which the group of green-tailed Attaci originated. 

 [Mr. J. H. Watson writes (litt. April 30, 1912): "I have 4 3 and 3 9 £. isalellse from 

 Spain, alive. I shall photograph these on a spray of Pinus maritima which I have growing in 

 the garden. The green-brown outlined nervures exactly harmonize with the pine needles. It 

 is as though two eyes were looking at you through them."] 



ARGEMA Wallengren. 



Argema Wallengren, (Efv. Vet. Akad. Forh., XV, p. 140, 1858. 

 Angas Wallengren, Vet. Akad. Handl. (2), V, (4), p. 24, 1865. 

 Argema Kirby, Syn. Cat. Lep. Het., p. 766, 1892. 



[Rothschild, Nov. Zool., II (1895), p. 47, lists the species thus:] 



1. A. mimosse Boisduval. [Type of genus according to Kirby.] 



2. A. mittrei (Guerin). 



3. A. msenas (Doubleday), of which A. leto (Doubleday) is the male. 



4. A. ignescens Moore. [Genus Sonthonnaxia Watson.] 



Imago. — Front of head moderately broad; the scmamation close. Antennae of o* broadly 

 pectinated, but with the tip nearly filiform; the joints short. In 9 well pectinated, but the 

 pectinations only about half as long as in s ; the distal pectinations but a little more than one- 

 half and less than two-thirds as long as the proximal ones, and with a few scattered setae at 

 or near the tip. 



Palpi small, depressed, nearly reaching the front. Tongue not visible. 



Fore wings broadly triangular, outer edge one-fourth shorter than the costa, the latter 

 inclined to be much curved towards the apex, which is sharp; outer edge straight or a little 

 falcate; outer edges of both wings either entire or slightly scalloped. Hind wings with extremely 

 long tails, the latter being twice as long as the main portion of the whig, the edges along the mid- 

 dle are turned or rolled up, and the end widens out oar-like or like a scalloped paddle; the tail 

 is either decidedly contracted in width (A. mimosse and leto) or slightly so in msenas. 



Venation: Fore wings, veins IIj and II 2 are present in A. mimosse, but in leto and msenas 

 IIj is wanting. Vein II 2 is remarkably short. Vein II arises near the end of I. The discal 

 cell is very short. Hind wings; origin of IV 2 remote from discal vein; the distance from the 

 origin of IVj is twice as great as that between the origins of IIL and TV ,. 



Markings: Ocelli of varying shape, being perhaps most generalized or primitive in A. 

 mittrei; they are in this species round, and on the fore wings free from the costal band, not 

 being stalked; and those of both fore and hind wings are similar in shape and size; in the two 

 more specialized species, A. leto and msenas, those of the fore wings are crescentic and are fused 

 with the costal band. Two lines on the fore wings, retained so to speak from Graellsia or a related 

 extinct form, beyond the ocellus are present, and are better developed than in Actias, where 

 they tend to disappear. The moths are of great size, on the whole comprising the largest species 

 of the group. 



Thus far the transformations of these magnificent moths are unknown. 



Geographical distribution. — Of the five species known three are confined to the oriental 

 region of the Arctogseic realm, one to the eastern coast region of Africa (Ethiopian region), 

 and a single species to the Malagasy region. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE SPECIES. 



4. Ocellus of fore wings crescentic; extradiscal line and basal line, no submarginal lines, or the heavy broad bands 



of A. leto; tails broad .4. msenas [?]. 



3. Ocellusof fore wing crescentic; two submarginal lines, both heavy and extending to the costa. ..A. leto [msenas <?]. 

 2. Ocellus of fore wing round ovate, connected by a stalk with costal band; two submarginal lines, the outer broad 



and extending only half way across the wing A. mimosse 



1. All four ocelli large, round, those of fore wings either free or stalked; two scalloped slender, submargina. 



lines A. mitlreil 



83570°— 14 12 



