38 SYNTOillS. By Dr. A. ^r.ny.. 



1. Genus: ^iyiitoiiiis (>. 



Small moths, varying greatly in .size and shape, from rather stoutly built insects to slender, midget- 

 like .species. Head inclusive of eyes transversely oval, with broad, often bright golden-yellow or -white 

 frons; palpi very small, so that they often do not entirely cover the strongly developed tongue. Antennae 

 more than half the length of the costa, filiform, generally with white tip. Thorax in the wasp-like species 

 spotted with yellow on the shoulders, sides of breast, tegulae and the metathorax, etc. Legs very strongl}' 

 developed, the hindtibiae sometimes slightly dilated, so that they resemble the pendant hindlegs of wasps 

 on the wing. Abdomen either with a yellow base and a yellow belt or entirely ringed with yellow, the 

 latter being the case especially in East Asiatic and Indian sjjecies. On account of this j^ellow marking the 

 Syntomids are so like certain Eumenids and Pollistes that one can hardly distinguish them when they are 

 on the wing. This similarity is enhanced by the fact that the Syntomids frequent the same flowers (white 

 Umbellifers) on which the wasps are to be found in great numbers. If a Syntomis of the germamcs- gronyi 

 is disturbed, it spreads the wings without flying away and moves forward in jerks, in the same manner 

 as true wasps. This peculiar movement and the position of the wings renders the imitation perfect, just 

 as many of our Sesias, which mimic the Ichneumonids in facies, still more simulate their models by 

 pendulating like the Ichneumonids before the leaf on which they intend to settle. 



As far as I know, only the eggs of the European species are known; they are round, yellow, small, 

 and are deposited in clusters. Larva dark grey, densely covered with brown woolly tufts united to form 

 cushions. Pupa brown, in a loose cocoon intermixed with the hairs of the larva. The moths are on the 

 wing in the summer, are diurnal, flying in sunshine, and the $$ are often very sluggish and clumsy. 

 English authors often employ the name Zygaeiut for this genus, while the red burnets which we call 

 Zygaena are designated with the generic name Anthrocera. 



phc(icit. S. phegea L. (= quercus F.) (9 a). Blue-black, forewing with (i, hindwing with 2 white spots. 



Abcl(ini(>n with a yellow ring each on segments 1 and 5. Very widely distributed over Europe 



and Anterior Asia, but local, being absent from large districts, for instance the North and North-West, 



ganssuensis. in the South and South-East on the contrary often abundant. — The Central Asiatic form ganssuensis 



Gr.-Grsh., irom Kuku-Xor, which is not known to me, is said to have one orange-coloured band on the 



pfluemeri. abdomen; the forewing bears 6, the hindwing 2 spots, as in true phegea. — pfluemeri TT'acg. (9 a) is a 



form bearing 5 dots, which occurs here and there among ordinary specimens in the North, but is the 



usual form in the South, for instance at the Eiviera, although specimens with 6 spots {sexmaculata Gian.) 



are also found there. — In the same way, in the Caucasus one regularly meets with specimens whose an- 



nigricomis. tennae are entirely black without white tips; this is nigricornis Alph. — The dots themselves may be 



kruegeri. enlarged and partially confluent, e. g. in ab. kruegeri Bagusa (9 a), which KKtJGER found in Sicily. ■ — 



phegeus. On the other hand, specimens with reduced spots are not rare, for instance ab. phegeus Esp. (9 b), where 



the spots are smaller and some entirely obsolete, so that the forewing bears only 4 and the hindwing one 



doelia. small dot. In al). cloelia Bkh. (9 b) there is only one spot on the forewing and none at all on the hind- 



ci/clopaea. wing. Ab. cyclopaea Ragusa, found in Sicily, bears no spots at all on the forewing and only one distinct 



iphivicdia. one on the hindwing. And in iphimedia Esp. (9 b) all spots are obsolete. — These aberrant specimens 



occur among true phegea, and are common one year and rarer the next; but on the whole they are found 



more frequently in the south of the region, for instance at the Eiviera, in Italy, and Sicily. — The j^ellow 



eggs are deposited in clusters on blades of grass. The larvae hibernate and feed on grass or low-growing 



plants; they are covered with brown woolly tufts on a black ground, and are full-grown in June. The 



moths are on the wing in June and July on sunny slopes and in dry woods. The $$ have a very stout, 



heavy body and comparatively short wings; they remain in the grass, awaiting the ^^. 



bk-incln. S. bicincta Koll. (9 b). Similar to the preceding, but of a more slender build, the spots larger than 



in large-spotted phegea, and at once distinguished from the latter by the sulphur-yellow forehead. In 

 Kashmir, on the northern slopes of the Himalaya, and in the valleys of its eastern ranges, in the Yang- 

 tse valley, and southward far into India (Calcutta). 



mestraUi. S. mestralii Bugn. {= kindermanni Led.) (9 c). Body and forewing similar to those of phegea, but 



the antenna entirely black with the exception of the extreme tip, spots larger, especially that below the 

 cell of the forewing more rhombiform than elongate-oval, and the large spot on the hindwing occupies the 

 whole basal area with the exception of the base itself. The wings of the ? are reduced to small, pointed 

 lobes, but still bear distinct white markings, although the spots are reduced to minute dots on the fore- 

 palcstinae. wing; from Syria. — In the form palestinae Hamps. the antenna is usually entirely black and the spots 

 Uba)iotua. more yellowish; fi-om Palestine. — libanotica Bang.-H., a much smaller form from the Lebanon, measuring 

 only 28 to SO mm. expanse, but otlu-rwisr closely resembling mestralii, the antenna having usually a white 

 tip, Init being occasionally without it. Caught at an altitude of SOO in., near the village of Delepta. 



atiliochcna. S. antiochena Led. (9 d), from Syria, closely resembles mesiralii, the ?, like that of the latter, 



having only small lol)es instead of wings, these being still more reduced than in mestralii. The species is 



