ANTHER.EA. By Dr. K. Jordak. 215 



open behind and enclosing the ocellus; the latter with greenish yellow ring, which has a reddish tinge post- 

 eriorly and does not touch the outer black band. Beneath, both wings almost alike in. colour and markings, with- 

 out ocelli, only with a vitreous spot, a blackish discal line edged with white is sharply developed. $ yellowish 

 olive with much larger vitreous spots than in the ^. — Only known to me from Central China (I-chang) and the 

 Province of Fo-kien, probably of wider distribution in China. 



S. olivacea Obeiih. (34 d). Not known to me in Nature. Apex of forewing not produced. Thorax and oUvacea. 

 wing brownish yellow with a greenish tinge; on both wings a proximal and a discal black band, the first 

 having an outer and the latter an inner white edge, outside the discal line a broad pale ochreous band dentate 

 distally, vitreous spot of forewing large, ovate; ocellus of hindwing black, with large rounded transparent 

 pupil. — Ta-tsien-lu, West China. 



S. royi Elwes. Both sexes of the forewing with a large round or oval vitreous spot. ^ blackish chest- rorji. 

 nut, antenna and coUar more yellowish. 9 to the greater extent oUve-yellow, thorax chestnut, anteriorly 

 pale yellow. Hindwing of ^ and $ grey from the costal margin to the limd margin of the cell, ocellus black 

 with white ring. — In the Himalayas, where the species occurs both on Indian and Palearctic territory. 



7. Genus : Aiitlier^ea Hhn. 



Palpi and frons with rather short scaling, not rough and woolly, end-segment of palpi distinctly marked. 

 Antenna of (^ quadripectinate, the pi-ocesses very long, with the exception of the seven to ten last segments, 

 whose branches are so short that the apex of the antenna has the appearance of being simple; the distal branches 

 are altogether absent on the last 6 to 8 segments. In the $ also cjuadripectinate, but the distal branches 

 of each segment always short and on the last 8 to 10 segments only vestigial; in the (J and $ the apical edge 

 of the distal segments (about 10) produced below. Tibiae and tarsi laterally with rather long hair-like scales, 

 rough, the spur of fore tibia not scaled, long and broad in the ,^, much shorter and slenderer in the 9; tarsi 

 with very few spines; fifth segment of fore tarsus of $ scaled in the middle of the sole, but the narrow scales 

 easily fall off. Forewing with three subcostals, the first (morphologically the second branch) originates from 

 the cell, or from the stalk of 3 and 4, or directly outside the fork, m single specimens the rest of the real first 

 subcostal (SC) is indicated as a small branch thrown off from 8C-, 8C^ always absent, the branches forming 

 the fork being SC* and SC^, SC* always distinctly bent down at the the tip, therefore ending in the outer mar- 

 gin, not in the apex, the stalk of the subcostal fork originates at the same level as the upper median, lower 

 median from the middle of the cell, upper and lower radials separate, cross-vein present; costal vein of hmd- 

 wing always terminating in the apex or outer margin, not in the costal margin, subcostal at the same level 

 as the lower median or more proximal. Basal spur or forewing very well developed. — Larva sparsely 

 hairy, with six rows of warts bearing thorns and a few long hairs widened at the apex; above the stigmata a 

 longitudinal line; upper lip with deep narrow incision; antenna long. Pupa short and broad, without distmctly 

 marked cremaster, loose in the cocoon, not attached by the cremaster; the bristles at the anal end not hooked 

 as in Actias, and not united in two bundles as in Caligula and allied genera. Cocoon very dense, covered with 

 a loose web and usually wrapped in a few leaves of the food-plant, ovate, attached to a small twig with one 

 end by means of a short or long stalk. A purely local Asiatic genus, extending from North- West India to the 

 Moluccas and northward to Japan and Amurland. The Saturnids most important for the silk industry belong 

 to this genus; especially three species are domesticated: yamnmai from Japan, pernyi from Chma and mylitta 

 from India. The silk of mylitta is an important article of commerce, and is known by its Indian name Tussore 

 (Tussah, Tusser, Tussur). About a dozen and a half species are known, three of which inhabit the Palearctic 

 region. 



A. harti Moore. A very peculiar species only known to me from the specimens in the British Museum, harii. 

 and one specimen in the Museum of the Silk Laboratory at Lyon. Dark brown, fringes bright yellow, ocellus 

 almost alike on both wings, surrounded by a narrow black ring, outer half yellow, inner half brownish red, 

 transparent pupil round, large. First subcostal branch of forewing from the stalk of the fork. Larva green, 

 with a golden spot at the base of most dorsal warts. Cocoon yellowish white, fastened to a branch by a long 

 stalk. On Oak. The species is semi-domesticated, and is said to have two broads a year. Niwohwang, Manchu- 

 ria. — In reports on the production of silk in China A. pernyi is mentioned as a moth common near Niw- 

 chwang ; perhaps some of the specimens may be harti. It is often very difficult to discover to which species 

 the reports of the consuls and the observations of missionaries refer. The species of Antheraea are so similar 

 that they are constantly mistaken for one another — even an entomologist like Staudixgek was quite in the 

 dark about the differences between pernyi, yamamai and mylitta*) — . and on the other hand in silk literature 

 the moths and cocoons bred on different plants are often known under different names so that, from an entomo- 

 logical point of view, it is often impossible to do anything with the records of occurrence of a moth. 



*) ff. Staudingeb, in Romanoff, M6m. L6p. VI, p. 328 (1892), and Leech, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1898, p. 265. 



