/ 



467. 



ASPILATES GILVARIA. 



The Straw or Dover Belle. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Phalaenidae. 



Type of the Genus, Phalsena purpuraria Linn. 

 AspiLATEs Treit., Goda.,Curt. — Cabera Och. — Geometra//M6., Haw. 

 — Phalsena Linn. 



Antenna inserted on the crown of the head close to the eyes, 

 setaceous, clothed with scales, bipectinated in the males nearly 

 to the apex, each joint producing 2 ciliated branches (1(^) : 

 simple in the females, the scales giving them a serrated ap- 

 pearance beneath (19). 



MaxillcE spiral, slender and not half so long as the antennae (3). 



Labial Palpi porrected nearly horizontally and clothed with 



short scales (4) ; triarticulate, basal joint the stoutest and 



curved, 2nd the longest, slender and nearly linear, 3rd small 



elongate -ovate (4 a). 



Males generally larger than the females. Head short and rounded. 



Thorax globose and clothed with depressed hairy scales. Abdomen 



long, slender and slightly tufted in the male, stouter and conical at 



the apex in the female. Wings forming a triangle when at rest, 



entire ; superior elongate -trig onate, less pointed in the male than 



female ; inferior trig onate- orbicular , narrower in the female and less 



rounded. Legs long and slender. Tibise, anterior the shortest, 



iinth a very long slender spine on the inside, intermediate spurred at 



the apex, posterior very long with a pair of short spurs at the apex, 



and an unequal and longer pair below the middle (8 f) . Tarsi long 



and 5 -jointed. Claws and Pulvilli minute. 



Obs. A. gilvaria was the species dissected. 



Caterpillar naked, with 6 pectoral, 2 abdominal and 2 anal feet, the 



apex apparently forked. 

 Pujja enclosed in a loose web upon the earth. 



Gilvaria Hiib. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 895. 3. 



Pale ochre or straw colour ; rays of the antennae and eyes black : 

 abdomen whitish ochre : superior wings freckled with brown, 

 having a dot towards the disc and an oblique bar extending 

 from the interior margin to the apex, of the same colour ; infe- 

 rior wings whitish ochre, with a spot and a transverse line more 

 or less apparent; the cilia ochreous. Underside with the brown 

 spots and stripes more apparent, but the superior are not freckled 

 and there is a dusky patch at the base of the costa ; the infe- 

 rior wings are strongly freckled : inside of legs dusky. 



In the Author's and other Cabinets. 



I HAVE repeatedly expressed an opinion that the genera in Le- 

 pidoptera are so perfectly artificial, that Entomologists will 

 never probably agree in the extent and formation of them. 



