NOVITATES ZoOLOOiOAE XXlV. 191*?. 453 



NOTES ON METANASTRIA DIGRAMMA (M.-W.), WITH 

 DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SUBSPECIES. 



By lord ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Ph.D. 



ON p. 3G9, No. 99, of this current volume I stated that I considered digrmnma 

 a distinct species from rubi Linn, on account of the cJ and $ being alilie, 

 whereas in ntbi they are dimorphic, and also because the transverse lines on 

 the forewings were so much farther apart. 



I have now had an opportunity of comparing my Portuguese specimens with 

 the specimens collected at Tangier by Mr. Meade- Waldo, and several interesting 

 points have resulted. The Portuguese specimens are at once distinguishable 

 from the Tangiers ones by the white, not chestnut, cilia of the hindwings, and 

 in the much broader and more distinct transverse lines on the forewings. 

 The females also differ in having the antennae shafts purer white and some- 

 what longer, and in the transverse lines of the forewings not being sinuate. 

 The next point is very curious. The series taken by my brother N. Charles 

 Rothschild at Cintra in Central Portugal is very different from the series taken 

 by Dr. K. Jordan at Monchique in South Portugal. From this it results that 

 we have three distinct races of Mclanastria digramma, two of which I describe 

 below. 



Metanastria digramma curvifascia subsp. nov. 



?. Differs from d. digramma in being darker and richer chocolate rafous, 

 and in the forewing being darker than the hindwing. The transverse bands of 

 the forewings are much broader and more distinct. The postmedian band is 

 not sinuate but evenly curved, so that the distal side is strongly convex. 



(J. Has thorax and basal quarter of wing strongly suffused with yellowish 

 cinnamon, and the hindwing darker than in the ?. Cilia of hindwings in both 

 sexes cream-white. 



Hithitul. Cintra, Portugal, 1 S, 5 ??, 1 larva, April 1909 (N. V.. Rothschild). 



Metanastria digramma parallelifascia subsp. nov. 



?. Differs from d. digramma and </. curvifascia in the ground colour being 

 still darker and richer, and in the two transverse bands of the forewing being 

 straight and almost parallel. The postmedian line is not so broad as in d. ciirvi- 

 jascia, but much more so than in d. digramma. 



tJ. Differs from <J of d. curvifascia in having no cinnamon suffusion on the 

 thorax and forewings, and is similar to ? in coloration. 



Cilia of hindwings in both sexes cream-white. 



Habitat. Monchique, Algarve, Portugal, May 1910, 6 ,J<J, 3 ?? (K. Jordan). 



