438 



PHASSUS. By R. Pfitzner. 



signifer. P. signifCf Walk. (= chalybeatus Moore, sinensis Moore, undulifer Walk.) (54a). ^■. Head, thorax 



and abdomen, as well as the ground-colour of the forewing yellowish, flesh-coloured or light greyish brown, 

 median area nut-brown to olive-brown, with silvery stigmata proximally and distally. This triangle and the 

 discal stripe merged together with it bear a number of indistinct ring-spots at vein 2 in the posterior area. 

 Hindwing usually reddish brown or flesh-coloured. $ darker, forewing with larger costal spots. Hindwing 

 shot with yellowish brown and with a dark spot at the apex. In a specimens from Burma the ground-colour 

 of the forewing is pale brownish yellow, without the light spots in the cell, and the hindwing ochreous brown. 

 ^ 100, ? 154 mm, very variable in size and colour. — signifer is widely distributed. East India, Sunda 

 herzi. Islands, China; near Shanghai it enters Palearctic territory. The smaller, darker herzi Fixs. {54 a) with 

 sinensis, dull markings, from Corea, often bears two small silver dots at the apex, sinensis Moore, from Central China, 

 might also be considered a variety; dull brown, the inner stigma of forewing obsolescent, hindwing reddish 

 brown. 

 excrescens. P. excrescens Bull. (= aemulus Bull.). ($: Forewing above pale pink brown, reticulated with grey 



and spar.sely irrorated with black, margin with black spots, basal half with the exception of the costal and 

 hind areas occupied by a large triangular yellowish brown spot, the lower edge of which is bordered with white ; 

 an indistinct yellowish brown discal band; hindwing grey, with brown costal and outer margins, a black 

 subapical costal spot. Body brown. Underside glossy browTi; costa of forewing dirty white with blackish 

 spots. $ larger, more deeply coloured. Expanse 60 to 90 mm. — Japan; also in the Amur district. 



camphorae. P. camphorae Sasake is a closely allied species from Japan. 'Larva lives in Cinnamomum camphorae. 



shamyl. P. shamyl CAm<. {54a). Both wings produced into points, being especially sharp m the (^. Forewing dark 



brown to ochreous, markings flesh-coloured, the silver stigmata sometimes more golden. Hindwing greyish 

 brown, more or less broadly suffused with red in the apical portion and at the margin. Underside brownish, 

 both wings edged with red. Size very variable, my smallest ^ measures 53, my largest 9 88 mm. — In the 

 Western Caucasus, not rare, but local, e. g. at Maicop, Kuban district. Life-history and habits very like 

 those of H. hecta. Very interesting and important observations on this point have been published bj' Messrs. 

 Deege>-er and Chatschattjr Schaposchxikow. P. shamyl also possesses a scent-organ to attract the $. 

 The so-called scent-area is situated at the posterior surface of the tibia of the hind leg and is densely clothed 

 with scent-scales, which attain to 5 or 6 mm in length. They contain a cavity into which flows the secretion 

 of the scent-glands situated in the tibia. We may assume that the $? are sexually excited by the scent. The 

 moths are on the wing immediately after sunset at the edges of woods. First the ^^ appear, flying at most 

 for a quarter of an hour (pendulating), then the 9$, which fly somewhat longer and more steadily. SS and 

 99 fly together for a short time, then the 9 settles, copulation follows, and the o then falls backward. When 

 it hangs thus on the 9 the two together resemble a rolled-up dry leaf. The fertilized 9 lays up to 2000 eggs. 

 The (JcJ are very excited sexually, often three of four precipitate themselves on to one 9- This is also the 

 case in hecta; I once found five ^^ m my net when catching a 9- The peculiar thick hair on the underside 

 of the forewing (costal and hind margins and partly median area, hindwing basal half) is also remarkable. 

 shamyl shares this peculiarity with other species which have pointed wings, e. g. the gigantic Zel. stacii from 

 Australia and Leto venus from South Africa, which is according to Schaposchnikow a means of rendering 

 the flight noiseless. 



reyius. P. regius l^tyr. (54 b). The series closes with this most beautiful of all Palearctic Hepialids, which 



has a right^to its name, being clad in purple and gold. Size up to 67 mm, forewing brownish grej', spots edged 

 with white and partly covered with gold. Hindwing smoky grey, the basal area as well as the upper three 

 or four segments of the abdomen more or less shot with carmine. The ^ is apparently characterised by the 

 more golden ornamentation of the forewing and the 9 by the more beautiful red of the hindwing. A (^ in 

 ray collection, caught at Sining (Tibet) at the beginning of July, has the forewing very strongly gilt, but the 

 hindwing almost white, only bearing red hair at the hind margin and slight red markings at the costal margin, 

 especially in the apical region; the red suffusion on the abdomen, on the otlier hand, extends to the thorax 

 (which is normally yellowish grey). P. regius is still rare in collections, for it inhabits the most distant parts 

 of Tibet (Amdo). It was first found in 1892 to 93 between Lob Nor and Kuku Nor by the collector E. RticK- 



roseus. BEiL and was described by Dr. Statjdinger. Oberthur gives the name roseus to a form in which the forewing 

 • is pale and scarcely metallic, but the hindwing uniformly rose-red; it occurs at the Tibetan frontier of China. 



•) Cf. Duft organ 

 description and figure. 



/'. shamyl von Dr. P. Deegener in the Zeitschrift fiir Wiss. Zoologie LXXVIII, 2; exact 



