4Q [Februai-.v, 



2847 : 1.— Aproaerema acanthtlltdis, sp. n. 



Antennae white beneath, black specklerl with white above ; basal joint slightly 

 flattened and enlarged. Palpi white. Head and face white. Thorax olive-brown. 

 Foreunntjx pale olive brown at the base, shading to brownish fuscous a little beyond 

 the middle, where this colour is abruptly terminated by a straight wliitish ochreous 

 fascia, nari'ow on the dorsum, wider and somewhat diffused outward above it to the 

 costa ; this fascia is of varying intensity, nnd in some varieties is almost entirely 

 obliterated by a suffusion of the blackish scales which predominate usually beyond 

 it on the apical fourth: the black scales in ordinary varieties are sprinkled thickly 

 on olive-brown, and accompanied by shining steely metallic scales, each tipped witli 

 black, which extend through the base of the grey cilia. Exp. a!., 8-9 mm. Hind- 

 wings witli produced apes and deeply excised termen ; pale bluish grey ; cilia 

 brownish grey. Abdomen brownish grey, fjegx shining, bi-assy whitish, with a 

 fuscous band at the end of the hind tibiae. 



Type, ^ (89469) ; ? (89475) ; var. ^ (89470). Mus. Wlsm. 



Bah.: ALGERIA-Biskra, 5.T1.1897, 1-30.III.1894, 19-29. \^. 

 I'fiM {Eaton) ■ 20.11— 9.TIT. 1903; EI-Kantnra, 5.V. ; Hammam-os- 

 Salahin, 28.111— 25. IV. 1904, 14.V.1903 ; Larva Acanfhi/llis frnffacan- 

 tJioides, 5.1. excl. 6-15.TIT.1904 ; 17. IV. excl. 12. V. 1904 {Wlsm). 

 Forty-one specimens. 



This species is abundant, and widely distributed among isolated 

 plants of Acfinthyllis trngacantlioides, from which I have since bred 

 it ; there would appear to be at least two broods. Mr. Eaton first 

 met with it in 1894. 



It is closely allied to captivella, Z., but differs in the outward 

 widening of the fascia. 



The genus Aproaerema is described as having in the forewings 

 "6 sometimes out of 7 near base" {Met/r., Busck.). This definition 

 would exclude acanthylUdis (and perhaps other species) in which 6 

 is emitted from ihe stalk of 7 and 8 near their furcation, moreover in 

 some specimens {e. g., 5854) 9 is sometimes connate with (G+7-|-8) 

 or even stalked with them — thus, in this species at least, vein 9 is 

 variable, being emitted from the radius before the end of the cell, 

 connate with, or out of (6-|-7+8). In the hindwings 2 and 3 are 

 connate from the end of the cubitus above which the cell is open ; 

 part of the discoidal occurs above lower media, emitting 5 angularly ; 

 6 and 7 are stalked from radius to near apex. At first one would 

 have felt inclined to make this species the type of a new genus, but 

 it seems wiser to slighly extend the definition of Aproaerema to in- 

 clude such species as are obviously in a plastic condition, the variation 

 being individual, not special. 



