I'«/j/.j. Vl.iu/:'. AEGERTA. P,v M. ISahtei 



377 



and hlack-browii wiiig-niargius and veins; I'oiewing without, yellow basal spot; very rare and only known 

 from .Southern Germany, the Valais and Grisons, Vienna, Hungary and Transsylvania ; the upper part of 

 the patagia is yellow as in all the forms of the present species. A very peculiar form is ab. brunnea Caf- brannea. 

 li.fch (50 m), the wing-membrane being uniformly dark coffee-brown and the veins dark brown; only known 

 from the Lower Engadine, Ziii'ich and Halle, very rare. ab. caflischi iitandf. is a combination of brmmea caflischi. 

 and tenebrioniformis, the entire wing-menbranes being blackened and the black abdomen and femora bearing 

 still fewer traces of yellow than in ab. <e»e6riow«7ormts; exceedingly rare, only from the Grisons at an altitude 

 of about 7844 ft. — The egg is elliptical, dark red. Larva 4—5 cm long, convex, flat beneath, yellowish 

 white, bearing single small hairs, the dorsal vessel shining through as a dark stripe; spiracles edged with 

 brown; michal plate yellowish; head large, blackish brown. Biennial and lives until April^May between 

 the wood and the bark of all kinds of Poplar (especially on Populus nigra), but also on Salix. It prefers the 

 lower parts of the trunk and the larger roots, making under the bark tunnels which are several yards long and 

 often extend far below the surface of the ground ; sometimes large numbers in the same tree. The larva also 

 feeds in the roots of very young Populus tremula, the tree being sometimes killed by it. The presence of the 

 larva is easily recognised by the fragments of gnawed wood on the bark. It is full-fed already in the autumn 

 of the second year and makes an elongate-rounded cocoon intermixed with the gnawed off bits of wood, the 

 cocoon being usually found some centimeters below the ground, but occasionally up to 20 centimeter above 

 it; some larva spin up at a distance from the tree in an isolated cocoon of earth. The change into a chry- 

 salis, however, takes place the next spring, the pupa being long and dark red-brown with rounded anal 

 end which bears a ring of 10 — 12 short but strong spines; the abdominal segments have on the upperside 

 spines directed backwards. Emergence from the end of May until July, single specimens in August. 



Ae. tiniur Gr.-Grsh. Head and palpi with yellow hair mixed with black hair between the eyes. Collar timur. 

 black. Thorax blackish, posteriorly mixed with yellow. Patagia black with 2 yellowish spots laterally and 4 

 underneath the collar. Abdomen black withjyellow belts. Legs yellow. Wings with the margins and veins 

 dark brown. Fringes black-brown in the ^, dark brown in the $, mixed with yellow in the anal portion. — 

 Buchara (Hissar Mts.). 



Ae. melanocephala !>«/?«. (51 a). Antennae yellowish brown, in $ with rather long pectmation, thicker »«cZo/ioce- 

 towards apex and base than in the other German allied species, in ? very thin towards base and with a dark P''"'"- 

 suffusion before tip. Palpi black, only anteriorly yellow in the upper portion. No white bands in front 

 of the eyes, the latter edged with yellow towards underside. Thorax and abdomen blue-black. Patagia with 

 yellow border anteriorly and dorsally. On the metathorax a lateral yellow tuft. Segments 2 — 4 of abdo- 

 men anteriorly belted with yellow, 5 and 6 and in ^ also 7 posteriorly, anal tuft mixed with yellow. Breast 

 with yellow lateral spots. Legs orange-yellow, coxae and femora blacl?, the former with yellow dots, the fore 

 femur yellowish beneath. Fore and mid tibiae^^with black spots before apex. Forewing margined with brown, 

 more broadly so in $ than in ^, in the $ almost the entire apical area and a portion of the central area of 

 the forewing being scaled. Cross-vein rather broadly dark brown 'dusted with yellowish red. The larger proxi- 

 mal portion of the costal and hind margins yellowish red. Distal border of hindwing very narrow. On the 

 underside the borders and veins of both wings are yellow-scaled, and the cross-vein entirely yellowish red. 

 — Probably very widely distributed with the food-plant, but on account of being local and its habits 

 not yet known it has only been found in Germany, Bohemia, Lower Austria, Hungary, Northern Roumania, 

 Spain (Albarrazin), Norway (Christiania), Central Sweden, Finland and North- Western Russia; but is also 

 known from Sarepta, whence I lately received a fresh example. Larva bone-colour, with dark brown head, 

 red-yellow nuchal plate, and yellow anal tergite. It lives in the trunk and branches of Populus tremula, in 

 the first year between wood and bark (but also bores into the ends of dry branches), in the second year in long 

 tunnels deeper in the wood. Pupation without cocoon at the end of the tunnel behind a hard pad, which is 

 slightly spun on laterally. The larva usually selects for pupation injured parts of the tree or projections, or 

 bores into a dry branch to near the exterior thin bark. For that reason it is easily obtained by collecting dry 

 branches in the spring. It turns into a long, pale red-brown pupa the end of April or beginning of May. 

 The moth emerges from the middle of June to the middle of July, in the early hours of the morning. 



Ae. pimplaeformis Oberih. (= maculiferum Stgr.). Well characterised by the abdomen being laterally pimplae- 

 somewhat compressed and its last 4 segments being dirty yellow and bearing a large round black dorsal f"''^"'^- 

 spot each. The 3 anterior segments are black-blue; the second and third laterally with thin yellow bands 

 which become broader towards underside. Venter black, only the last segment anteriorly yellow. Antennae 

 short, black, the apex with brownish suffusion beneath and the basal segment incrassate and yellow. Vertex 

 and frons browaiish grey. Palpi yellow, with black hair at the base. Thorax blue-black, with the collar 

 narrowly yellow. Patagia with yellow spots anteriorly. Underneath the patagia and the end of the thorax 

 there are 2 yellow tufts. Fore coxa extended yellow beneath; tibiae yellow or russet-red, with blackish tips; 

 tarsi brownish. Margins of wings, veins and fringes as in Ae. apiformis, but brownish grey or light russet. 



II 48 



