76 OC'NOGYNA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 



40. Genus: Ocnogyna Led. 

 In this "enus we unite about !50 forms, which are all Palearctic and are placed by others in tht- 

 genera Ocnogyna, Tnchosoma and PachijIischM. The most conspicuous cluiractoristic is the abortion of 

 the wings in most ??. Curiously enough, this pecuHarity appears again in \hv Southern Hemisphere in 

 an Arctiid genus of South America. — Head fairly hidden in the thick woolly covering of the thorax, 

 small; frons narrow; eyes small and hidden. Palpi short and with very long bristles. Thorax and ab- 

 domen covered with thick wolly hair, thorax of (^ very broad and large, abdomen of cj slender and short. 

 Fori'wing of (J triangular, very often asymmetrical, and frequently distorted, usually with bright-coloured 

 markings and small spots. Hindwing usually with black outer band and median spot. In the $ the 

 wings are aborted to a very variable degree; sometimes they still attain half their normal length; some- 

 times only traces of them are present. The larvae are usually common where they occur, remaining 

 together when young, but dispersing later on. It is advisable to look for the larvae in the spring, before 

 the vegetation begins to grow and conceals the larvae, which are on the ground. They grow rather 

 slowly, and generally remain in the pupal stage for a long time. The ^J^ fly quickly and wildly, often 

 also in daytime. 



Corsica. 0. Corsica Bambr. (14 a). In the c? forewing yellow, with black bands and spots, hindwing orange, 



an apical spot, a median lunule and two wedge-shaped streaks in the anal area from the base black. 



sardoa. In the ? the body and the wing-remnants are almost yellowish white. Corsica. — In sardoa Sfgr. (14 a), 



from Sardinia, the hindwing is more pink and more strongly spotted; the wings of the much darker ?, 



albifascia. which are much better developed than in true Corsica, are also more strongly spotted. — la ab. albifascia 



rosacea. Const, the orange bands are replaced by white ones. ab. rosacea Spul. (14 a) has the hindwing bright 

 purple-pink; the $ is quite pale and its wings are as small as in true Corsica, but with less spots. — 

 Ijarva reddish brown, with broad black median stripes edged with white, and three dark lateral stripes. 

 The hairs anteriorly and posteriorly black, in the middle foxy red, laterally whitish. In May and June, 

 on grass: pupa dark reddish brown, in an ovate, brown cocoon. Moth from March to May; easy to breed. 



pierreli. 0. pierreti Bamhr. (14 a). Forewing brown, at the costal margin large cream-coloured spots edged 



with black; a similar smaller spot at the base, and often traces of others in the disc. Hindwing orange 



yellow, with broad black marginal band. The ? altogether without wings, dark, with long legs and stout 



gandolphei. abdomen. In ab. gandolphei Oberth. (14 b) the anterior costal spot is absent and the posterior one also 



ailanlica. sometimes smaller, ab. atlantica Luc. has all the light spots, but they are smaller, ab. mauritanica 

 lanica. Luc. (14 b) has only traces of spots on the forewing, there being present a very small costal spot and an 

 huguniini. exceedingly small one near the apex of the cell. In huguenini Oberth. (14 b) the forewing is quite uni- 

 formly brown, ground-colour of hindwing paler yellow, with the black marginal band broader and more 

 continuous. — All the forms occur in East Algeria, except huguenini, which inhabits Central and West 

 Algeria, and is often regarded as a separate species; it is at all events the western representative of the 

 East-Algerian fierreti. — The larva of mauritanica is found in meadows, lying exposed on the ground. It 

 is very brightly coloured, with blue-grey dorsal area, bisected by a light line, the dirty white sides sharply 

 defined. Head black-brown. The hairs are not foxy red, but dark brown, and not so dense as in baetica. 

 On low growing plants; it pupates in June. The moths are still rare in collections; with me they emerged 

 in a room without fire in the middle of January. 

 haciiva. 0. baetica Bambr. (14 b). Black, fore- and hindwing traversed by a few white flexuose bands, 



often tinged with red, which run around the apex of the cell in dentate curves. The first describer 

 already figured several forms of the J; a smaller one, which I name baetica tijpica, in which the black 

 on the hindwing is augmented, and a larger one in which there is more white on the hindwing. The 

 latter may be the case to a much greater degree than in Rambur's figure, so that the white colour is 

 mcridio- predominant, at least on the hindwing. This latter form I name ab. meridionalis nam. noi\ (14 b); it is 

 the predominant form in Northern Africa; among a large number of specimen which I bred in Africa, 

 I have not obtained even a single dark one. But the light form also occurs in Europe, so that there can 

 be no question of geographical races. On the other hand the white may be absent, with the exception 



ohscurior. of a few slight traces; this is the case in ab. obscurior Spul, which is represented by Ramlur's fig. 2. 

 The $$ of baetica have scarcely visible wing-remnants, and in facies resemble the $ of Orgijia antiqua. 

 In Spain and North Africa. — Larva very variable, dark brown, sometimes broadly lead-grey dorsally, 

 always with stiff foxy-red hairs above, and stiff whitish grey ones laterally, so that there is a resemblance 

 to a larva of Bhyp. purpurata, but the small silvery-white spots of purpurata are quite absent in baetica. 

 The larvae always remain on the ground like those of A. hebe, and must be collected before the grass in 

 the meadows grows long enough to hide them. Locally they are very common, and in the space of a 

 few square rods hundreds may be collected, and reared on lettuce, dandelion, etc. Pupa in a white cocoon, 

 reddish brown, that of the $ with stout abdomen and slenderer thorax (the reverse of Eambuk's figure). 

 The larvae are full-grown at the end of May. The moths appear at the end of November and December. 

 Common. 



