NOTFS ON THE ZYGi'ENIDES. 191 



Notes on the Zygaenides: Anthrocera lavandulae. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Oiiu of the most beautiful of the South Euro]H'iUi Zy,i;;eiiiils (or 

 Antlu'oeerids, us we uuist learu to eall tlieui) is eertaiuly Anllirocn-ii, 

 l(iV(iH(lnlat', its l)euutit'ui shiuiui;' l)hie-,u,reen fore-wiu.i^'s with iive small 

 blaek-riu,L!,vd eriuisou spots, its similarly tiuted liiutl-wiu<^"s, with oue or 

 two red sjjots ouly, aud its whitish friu<i;es aud white eollar, makin,^' 

 it a very liaudsome iuseet. lu some speeimeus the base of the hind- 

 win<,^s is rayed with red, so as to joiu the spot or spots normally jjresent 

 ou them. Altogether it is strikingly different from any of our British 

 Authroccrids, and quite deserves all the praises the French ento- 

 mologists have bestowed upon its beauty. 



1 am not very certain as to what time it should normally ai)i)ear in the 

 imago state in its native haunts. Boisduval writes {Muncxj. dcs 

 X//<jaeni(l('s, p. So) : " Cette Zygeue, I'une des })lus jolies du genre, 

 eelot en juillet, et se trouve assez connnunement dans la France la {Alia 

 meridiouale et en Espagne." Milliere notes (Cat. Lip. des A/2)cs- 

 Mar., p. 127) : " ISe montre commuuemeut en mai i)artout ou croit les 

 Jhrycuium, (jui uourissent la chenille," but this year I bred a beautiful 

 specimen ou June 10th. Staudinger and AVocke give as tlie area of 

 its distribution: " Southern France, Liguria and Spain." Oberthiir 

 says that it flies at Vittoria, in Spain, with A. rhadamunihns. 

 Staudinger gives one named aberration, consobrina, Germ., diagnosed 

 as : "subt. macul. couHuentibus," and recorded from Hyeres. 



I dare say the life-history of this s})ecies is well known. At any 

 rate, I was so entirely ignorant of it that, wheu ou \\)n\ 14th last Mr. 

 S. Edwards kindly handed nic a full-grown larva that he had picked u}) 

 during the day on the heights above Grassc, 1 at once took thefollowiug 

 description of it : — 



The ventral area and prolcgs bright rosy, almost coral colour, 

 the lateral areas dull purplish-grey, with the spiracles minute and 

 black. Above the spiracles is a whitish lougitudiual line, broken at 

 tlie segmental incisions by a transverse yellow spot on the posterior 

 edge of the 2nd aud i3rd thoracic, and 1st to 8th abdominal, segments. 

 Above this, again, is a dull, blackish-grey subdorsal line or band, edging 

 a rather broad dorsal Ijand of pale violet-grey hue, with a very slendi'r 

 median reddish line extending into somewhat small dots towards the 

 posterior nuirgin of each segment. Head black, with white markings 

 just above the mouth-])arts, and white bases to the antenna; ; ocelli 

 black; head retractile within the prothora.x. The prothorax without 

 the characteristic markings of the other segments. The dorsal tultercles 

 uuited into a continuous wart, bearing many l)iack chitinous points, 

 each of the front of which bears a white, ami tlie hinder of which bears a 

 black, hair ; the prothoracic spiracle is lilack, placed low down, aud 

 well towards the posterior edge of the segment ; tul)ercle iii is above, 

 but in front of the spiracle ; tubercle iv is below, and also in front of the 

 spiracle. The meso- and meta-thoracic segments are each divided into 

 two sub-.sc\gments. The anterior and jiosterior trapezoidals of the 

 mesothorax are united into a raised wart, but are otlierwise distinctly 

 separable ; iii forms the large sui)ra-spiracidar, which bears about 20 

 black jjoints, each bearing a white hair; iv and v are uuited into a 

 similar sub-spii'acular wart. The abdominal segments are also divided 



