Pnbl. 1. IV. 1910. UTETHEISA. By Dr. A. SritZ. 73 



Bdr. (13 h) in which the Rioiind-colour of the forewing is also blackish grey, but in which the dots are 

 quite distinct; from the Pyrenees. — Egg round, golden-yellow. Larva dark grey-brown, reddish yellow 

 laterally, with black and single white hairs on blackish warts. Dorsal line and sometimes also subdorsal 

 lines whitish yellow, the head dark brown. However, the larvae of the different forms are not quite 

 identical, for in.^tance, that of hifasciata is lighter yellow laterally, and with reddish hairs on the middle 

 segments. According to Spuler the larvae of those forms which occur in mountainous regions arc 

 darker. On grass, also on other low-growing plants, untill the beginning of June, in the higher Alps 

 (Zermatt) until the end of June. Pupa short, stumpy, reddish brown. The moths are on the wing from 

 June until August, according to the position and elevation of the locality. In contradistinction to the 

 preceding species the (^(^ appear only to fly in day-time when disturbed, otherwise resting on boards, rocks 

 and stalks, with the forewings closely wrapped around the abdomen. The_y are not so much confined to 

 certain flight-places as striata, but are more dispersed; they are not rare, but are entirely absent from 

 some localities within their area of distribution. 



33. Genus: Utetheisa Hbn. 



This genus together with Deiopeia, which was erected at a later date, contains a few more than a 

 dozen forms, only half of which are, however, good species. They are distributed over all countries which 

 are not too cold, and are usually among the first moths met with on entering a country. Wherever we 

 go ashore, in Italy, Algeria, the Cape, Madagascar, in Sydney or Melbourne, in China, Japan, India, the 

 United States, Brazil, and even on nearly all larger islands, the first moths which are flushed in the grass of 

 the dunes on our approach are the Utetheisa. On a journey in African, Asiatic or Australian deserts they 

 are the last Lepidoptera to leave us, and on a sea-voyage they often come to greet us when the boat is 

 still far from the coast. 



Head fairly large, with moderately broad, smoothly scaled frons, and large, semiglobular eyes. 

 Palpi short, upturned. Tongue strong. Ciliae of the antennae of the ^ varying from being quite short 

 to being long. Tibiae with moderate spurs. Forewing elongate, with the costal margin slightly curved 

 towards the apex; ground-colour wliite, tinged with rosy red or dotted, seldom restricted by black. Hind- 

 wing large, white with black margin and often with central lunule. Body graceful and well pro- 

 portioned, thorax often spotted, abdomen cylindrical. Larva agile, with brighter colouring and finer hairs, 

 than that of Coscinia, with dorsal warts and small, spotted head. Pupa in a cocoon on the ground. The 

 moths live in the grass, often only fly for a few paces and in the sunshine suck at flowers, especially 

 clover and Echium. When touched, as in many Arctiids, two drops of an acrid oily liquid, with a slightly 

 burning taste on the tongue, exudes from the thorax. 



U. pulchella L. (= pulchra Schiff.) (13 k). \Miite forewing with black and red spots, hindwing pulcheUa. 

 with irregular black distal margin and central lunule. Head and prothorax orange. Europe, south of a 

 line extending from Central Eussia across the Danube countries and South Germany to Central France, 

 almost everywhere, every year and regularly; but also met with singly and by chance far north of this 

 line, being found in England, North Germany to the Baltic, Heligoland, North Eussia and Siberia, here 

 and there, often after intervals of years: at Manchester, Frankfurt, Giessen, Hamburg, singly and usually 

 near the railway, probably carried there by the trains. Besides distributed southward throughout South 

 Europe and the whole of Africa, often enormously abundant (Algeria, Egypt), throughout Central and 

 Southern Asia to Japan, the Philippines, Australia to the extreme south; in the west to the Atlantic 

 islands (Madeira, Canaries, Cape-Yerde, etc.) and represented in America by closely allied forms. In spite 

 of this enormous area of distribution no geographical races have developed. On the whole, the moths ara 

 smaller in the east and in the Southern hemisphere, so that a name tenuella form. «oi\ (13 k) might be tenuella. 

 given to those very small East-Asiatic forms which do not come under Hampson's pidchelloides. On the 

 other hand, certain abberrations occur in most localities, e. g. ab Candida Butl., which has wliite forewing Candida. 

 without any red and with very little black, ab. pallida Sirul. (13 k), which I caught near Giessen, has pallida. 

 very pale markings, ab. melampyga SpuL has the abdomen nearly all black, ab. fasciata Spul. (13 k) mclampyQa. 

 has the black dots united to form lines, ab. semisignata Spul. (13 k) has the black dots confined to ^^^^ semisignala. 

 outer marginal portion of the forewing, being absent in the median and basal areas. In thyter Butl. thijter. 

 they are almost entirely absent. — The larva, like the moth, is so very variable that a general description 

 is almost impossible. In localities where they occur in abundance, as in East and North Africa, I often 

 found quite differently coloured specimens close together. As a rule, the larva is dark grey, lighter (lead 

 grey or light yellowish) dorsally, on the separate segments reddish yellow or yellowish brown transverse 

 bands. The hairs are moderately long, rather thin, black or wliite; sometimes a white lateral line is 

 present; head light reddish brown, with black markings. The moths rest in the grass on field paths, at 

 railway banks and in dry beds of rivers, often in huge numbers. I found them most abundantly in Egypt 

 at the Nile Canal and in Algeria along certain railway lines. In Kabylia I drove past mountain slopes 



II 10 



