NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 1915. 



267 



ON THE TWO ALGERIAN^ SPECIES OF CEROOALA, 

 A GENUS OF NOCTUIDAE. 



By Dh. K. JORDAN. 



(With 10 text-figures.) 



IN vol. xiii. of the Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaeiiae p. 27i) (1913), 

 Sir George Hampson records one species of Gerocala from Algeria. The 

 nnmerous specimens from that country contained in the Tring Museum, however, 

 belong to the two species described by Hampson as insana H.-S. (1850) and nana 

 Stand. (1901) respectively. According to Rothschild (Nov. Zool. xxi. p. 233) the 

 name insana doubtfully applies to the Algerian insect, and therefore should be 

 replaced by algiriae Oberth. (1870). 



The species which Lucas describes and figures as scapidosa Hiibn. in Ann. 

 Soc. Ent. France, 1850, p. 103, tab. 2, fig. 3, from Algeria, and which Hampson 

 (;.e.) refers to insana = algiriae, is really sana. Hampson's synonymy should be 

 corrected accordingly. 



The two species are outwardly so much alike that they are easily mistaken 



Figs. 1 ami 2. — /'i-nmiln suhh. 

 „ 3 „ 4. — ,, algiriae. 



one for the other. Size and markings are very variable in both. C. sana is on an 

 average the larger species, but many specimens are much smaller than an average 

 example of algiriae. In sana (text-figs. 1 and 2) the creamy or bnlfish discal 

 band which extends from below the costa obliquely towards the snbmarginal line 

 usually reaches this line, and has a straight outer edge below the costa ; whereas 

 in alr/iriae (text-figs. 3 and 4) the band is shorter posteriorly, and its outer edge is 

 mostly convex near the costa. But these differences do not hold good, nor can I 

 find anything else in the markings of the upperside of the forewing which can 

 be relied upon for separating the two species. The black spots, however, which 

 are found on the upper surface of the hindwing and on the underside of both 



