18 ZYGAENA. By Dr. A. Skitz. 



penangae. T. penangae Moore (Bi). Abdomen yellow, ringed with black. Forewing with two yellowish basal 



streaks, two subvitreous spots in the middle and a third before apex. Hiiidwing vitreous, costal margin and 

 apex black. — Occurs in West China according to Leech; originally described from Penang. 



25. Genus: Z^'gaeiia /'., Burnets. 



Small, stout, black insects, sometimes with metallic gloss. Antenna very strong!}' developed; the 

 club l)eing considerably incrassate distally. Tongue long and strong. Legs rather short. Forewing elongate- 

 oval, black or red, rarel,y spotted with white or yellow. Hindwing small, usually red, seldom black. — 

 Larva strongly humpbacked, very soft, downy-haired. Pupa in a paper-like silky cocoon, the sheaths of 

 legs and wings being loosely soldered together. The moths are mostly local, their stations being often re- 

 stricted to a mountain, a meadow, etc. They appear mostly in large numbers at their special localities, 

 swarming about flowers, which they suck, f i. Scabious, Thistles, Eryngium, etc., their flight being slow 

 and straight on. The body of these insects contains, as in the other Zygaenids, a yellow , acrid, oily hquid 

 which renders them nauseous, protecting them not only against their enemies among the vertebrates, but 

 apparently even against predatory insects, f. i. Asilids. Like all insects protected by the body-juices, they 

 are extremely tenacious of life, enduring considerable wounds as well as resisting strong poison for some 

 time (cyanide of ])otassium). They conceal themselves in no way, mostly resting conspicuously on stalks or 

 sprigs, hardly taking to the wing when touched, so that one can often pick them off by the long antennae. 

 The latter are not concealed beneath the wings when at rest, as in other Heterocera, but are held straight 

 forwaid. The main locality for the genus are the Mediterranean coast districts, of Europe as well as of 

 the Atlas countries and the Levant, where the Zygaenae occur in a great abundance of forms, which partly 

 intergrade and are found in immense numbers of specimens. There are often several individuals of dif- 

 ferent species on a flower, which easily explains that hybridisation obtains here more often than in any 

 other group of Lepidoptera. However, such copulations appear to be mostly without result. The Zygaenae 

 are best killed ])y injection of some strong tobacco juice W'ith the help of the hollow needle of a morphia- 

 syringe. As in all protected Lepidoptera the specifically distinct forms are without exception very common 

 at their localities, the commercial value depending solely on the accessibleness of these places. The 

 number of species is largest in South Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, thence decreasing rapidly in 

 all directions. The pacific coast of Asia is reached by one species onlj' and the higher North of Europe 

 by two, while not one occurs in South Asia. Outside the Palaearctic Region there occur only a few species 

 in South and East Africa, while two Palaearctic forms extend into the Punjab and the Nepalese valleys of 

 the Himalayas. 



The species are on the whole very similar to one another and also very constant, varj'ing only in 

 certain directions. There occur of nearlj' all species individuals for instance Avith yellow instead of red 

 markings. The normally six-spotted species may exceptionally have five spots, and inverse!}'. In species 

 which bear a red belt the latter may sometimes be absent, and in non-belted forms the belt may appear in 

 rare cases. The spots of the forewing may be edged \vith white and merged together. Lastly, the mar- 

 ginal l)and of the hindwing may be so widened as to more or less displace the red ground-colour. These various 

 aberrations have in may cases received names. *) 



lubiciindus Z. rubicundus Hiihn. (= erythrus Boisi/.) (4- a). All the wings red, also the hindmargin, only the 



apex and distal margin of forewing bearing a black edge, which is a little more than 1 mm wide. — In 

 Central and South Italy. Very local. 



crythrus. Z. erythrus llilhn. {^= saportae Boisd.; minos Boisd.) (4a). Larger; antenna longer, with thicker 



club. The red colour of forewing restncted to 3 streaks , the distal one being wedge-shaped ; moreover, 

 irpina. only the basal third of the hindmargin of forewing is red. South France, Italy and Sicily. In ab. irpina 

 v.agna. Zkkert, from the Riviera, the cuneiform spots are confluent. — As magna (4 a) a very large form from the 

 Abruzzi is sold by Staitdinger; the posterior cuneiform spot is strongly widened and distally straight-truncate. 

 — Larva dull greenish }ellow, witli heavy black dots subdorsally and yellow side-spots (Sapokta); in some 

 districts not distinguishable from the larva of j^iirpuralis. On Eryngium and Thyme (Rouast). Hibernating; 

 pupation at end of May. Imago in June and July; frequently sitting on Thyme and Eryngium. 



p:ir;ju,,ilis. Z. purpuraHs Briinnich (= pilosellae Esj).; minos FuesxI.) (4a). In this species the hindmargin of 



forewing (base included) is all black, wliile the red wedge-spots situated before it may be shaped entirely 

 as in /-ri/thnin Jllni. An aberration with light yellow instead of red markings, already recorded by 



*) The editor lenders his best tliaiiks to Mssrs. Burgf.ff (of Geisenheim) and DziimzvNSKi (of Vienna), wlio kindly com- 

 pared the list of species here dealt with as to its conipleleness and verj' generously put at his disposal specimens for tignrinjj. 



