406 



CHAMAESPHECIA. By M. Bartel. 



floricola. 



asialiforniis. 



yellow stripes in the outer area, dull yellow colouring of the palpi, and very dark abdomen, particularly in 

 the $, the abdomen bearing beneath no or few yellow scales and in (J above a more distinct row of dorsal 

 spots. The larva of this form was found onl}' in Tithj'malus lucida on sunny river banks which were not swampy; 

 it makes a tunnel of mould and soil down into the damp portion of the ground, and moves in it up and 

 down (as does also the pupa) according to the degree of dampness. — Ch. empiformis is distributed almost 

 throughout Central and South Europe, the Ural district, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, Siberia (Lepsa and Kuldja 

 district); questionably also in Algeria. The egg is flat lent if orm, red-brown, with very hard shell; deposited 

 singly at the stem of the food-plant close to the ground, being only slightly glued on. The larva is bone- 

 yellow, with bi"oad, swollen thoracical segments, and sparsely clothed with grey hairs. Head yellowish brown, 

 with darker frontal triangle, nuchal plate yellowish; fullgrown 18 to 21 mm in length. Hibernates once and 

 lives until April or May, very rarely until July, in the larger rhizomes of Tithymalus cyparissias, esula and 

 other species, in sunny places. According to Asmus also in EpUobium angustifoHum. Pupates in the top 

 of the rhizome in a cell lined, with- fine silk ; pupa slender, golden yellow, with six — 8 light muiute bristles on 

 the stumpy anal end. Moth from the end of May to August, single specimens observed in September; flies 

 round Artemisia and Tithymalus and can be canght on the food-plant at night: 



Ch. floricola Oherth. (51 h). According to Oberthtjr differs from empiformis in the reddish base of 

 the huidwing, the black fringes which are not lighter distally, but are white at the hmdmargin of the hind- 

 wing, the black head with white palpi havmg a black outer edge, and m a white tuft of hair on the metathorax. 

 Abdomen black on both sides, bronze-coloured, with a short whitish central stripe and a white spot laterally 

 on segment 2. Anal tuft and legs black; hind tibia with yellowish ring in the middle; tarsi yellowish. — Al- 

 geria (Sebdou, middle of July). 



Ch. astatiformis//.-<S'cM//. (51h). The sexes very different, the (3* usually larger than the J, and much 

 .slenderer than that of empiformis. Forewing brownish black dusted with yellow; outer area of q pale yellow, 

 crossed by dark brown veins and bounded with dark colouring on both sides, in the darker $ with two to 

 four small light yellow spots close to the margin, or entirely dark. Cross-vein of hindwing in both sexes more 

 broadly scaled posteriorly than in empiformis. Palpi of q .yellowish with whitish base, sometimes blackish 

 on the outside ; in the $ yellowish, or whitish and yellowish on the distal part, at most verj^ slightly blackish on the 

 outside right at the tip. Thorax with the patagia broadly edged with yellow, and narrow yellow median line 

 in the c?, which is fainter and often obsolete in the ?. Frons dusted with yellow. Abdomen of o ver\^ slender, 

 strongly dusted with yellow, m the 9 almost black with patches of j'ellow scales in the centre. Segments 2, 

 4 and 6 bear narrow yellowish white belts posteriorly in the (J and broad white ones in the $; segment 7 

 yellow in the o. Anal tuft black, in the ^ striped with golden yellow m the middle and laterally, and en- 

 tirely yellow below ; in the $ above with two divergmg yellowish median stripes, and yellowish below m the middle. 

 Venter of ^ entirely yellow, with white spots on the lateral edge, in the $ predominantly dark, with whitish 

 lateral spots, those of segments 4 and 6 being most prominent. Legs predominantly yellow, tibiae with blackish 

 rings at the base and apex, which however, are, often entii-ely obsolete in the (^. — From Ratisbon, Bohemia, 

 Lower Austria, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Dalmatia, Roumania, Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Southern Russia, 

 Gouv. Kasan, Volga and Ural districts, and neighbouring Asiatic countries, Transcaucasia, Asia Mmor, 

 Tobolsk, Lepsa (Southern Siberia), Hi district, Altai to Chinese Turkestan (Aksu, here in aberrational speci- 

 mens), from May to August. The larva lives in the roots of Euphorbia. 



Ch. stelidlformis Frr. (51 i). Antennae black, yellow on the outside, in the 9 with a brown spot 

 above before the apex. Abdomen with dorsal luie of yellowish spots and white htndmargin to segment 4, 

 w Inch is strongly broadened into a spot laterally. Segment 2 with white lateral spots, the others mostly with 

 whitish spots at the lateral edges. Anal tuft black, with yellowish lateral stripe, m the ^ yellowish below in 

 the centre, rarely also variegated with yellow hairs above. Hind tibia black, with yellowish stripe 

 below ; tarsi black at base. The outer vitreous area of the brownish black forewing consists of five 

 spots, the three middle ones of which project distally. Median line of thorax is only faintly devel- 

 ideropus. oped and sometimes absent. In ab. (et v.) icteropus H. Schdff. (52 c) the wmgs and the abdomen 

 are strongly dusted Avith yellow, and the anal tuft is predominantly yellow. From Fiume, Dalmatia, Southern 

 and Eastern Russia, South Western Siberia, transitional forms also in Hungary; in the last localitj' occur 

 also typical specimens of icteropus. — Ch. stelidiformis is distributed in Piedmont, Dalmatia, Carniola, Ca- 

 rmthia, Croatia, Hungary, Moravia, Roumania, Southern Russia, North Cavicasus, Transcaucasia, Asia I\Ii- 

 nor, to Lepsa ui the Siberian province Semirjetshensk, and the Kuldsha district. Accordmg to Tojl\la 

 the egg is flattened, 0.3 x 0.35 mm, A^th the broader surfaces somewhat impressed, a small groove on the 

 iipper side; dark chocolate brown, with minute diagonally placed depressions, the raised edges of which have 

 a golden gloss. It is deposited singly or in clusters of up to twelve on the stalk of the food plant. The larva 

 emerges after a fortnight and according to Gartiser is first white with pale brown head, having a dark forked 

 line and similar mouth-parts ; nuchal plate brownish with two rust-browii .stripes. Dorsal vessel rust -brown, 

 shining through, on either side of it a groove on each segment. Stigmata in depressions. Thoracical legs with 

 strong coxae, rusty brown at the apex. In the sprmg the full-grown larva is stout, the head darker fox-brown 

 with minute hairs; anal plate narrow, without gloss and also hairy. Above the white lateral edge there are 



strlidifor 

 mis 



