I'YRALlD.f;. DIASKMIA. 37 



Gknus CCLXIII. — DiASEMiA, Huh)ier. 



Palpi four ; maxillary very short, labial elongate, in the form of a beak, de- 

 pending, densely clothed with scales, and acute, triarticulate, the apical 

 joint short, obtuse : maxillw elongate. Antenna simple in both sexes, 

 incrassate at the base, and ciliated beneath in the males : head small, 

 densely scaly between the antennae; thorax slender: iv'uigs very narrow 

 and acute, anterior subfalcate, marked with various irregular lines 

 resembling oriental characters ; posterior slightly emarginate on the hinder 

 margin, also marked with litersform lines : abdomen slender, rather long, 

 annulated, the apex with a small tuft in the males, slightly acute in the 

 females: legs rather long and slender; posterior tibiae with two pair of 

 spurs. 



The only indigenous species of this genus may be distinguished 

 from those of the preceding one, in which the palpi also arc conni- 

 vent and resemble a beak, by having them dependent ; the wings are 

 also totally dissimilar, being marked with numerous transverse and 

 longitudinal pale characters and darker blotches upon a dusky 

 ground ; the anterior wings are very acute and faintly subfalcate, and 

 the posterior wings are strongly emarginate on their hinder edge 

 towards the costal angle. 



Sp. 1. literalis. Alis Juscis, nebulosis, ant ids strigis tribus, posticis duahus 

 argenteo-albis. (Exp. Alar. 8^ — 9^ lin.) 



Py. literalis. Wien. Ters;.— Hyd. literally. Steph. Catal. ii. 163. A'o. 6797. 



Wings brown, with darker clouds ; anterior with two silvery white streaks 

 resembling Arabic characters, the first oblique at the base, and the second 

 behind the middle, then a more distinct slightly recurved streak towards 

 the hinder margin, having a short whitish line within, towards the costa ; 

 on the hinder margin is a faint row of pale clouds: posterior wings at the 

 base dark, then an oblique ashy- white streak, and then an angulated one 

 towards the apex, not touching the inner margin, sometimes interrupted : 

 cilia all brown, interrupted with white. 



Variable, some examples having the ground very much clouded with brown, 

 others nearly concolorous ; some again are very dark, others pale ; and the 

 white marks are more or less distinct. 



Occasionally taken in the beginning of June at Darenth, on the 

 borders of a small pond, towards the middle of the wood ; but found 

 very abundantly in the New Forest, somewhere in the vicinity of 

 Brockenhurst. 



