142 tiuUctìn de la Société Enloinologiquc d'Egypte 



pails üC Central Asia and WMiidia.The genus is charac- 

 lerislically " Desert Palaearctic", two species occurr- 

 ing in the Syro-Aral)ian and three in the North African 

 sections of the S. Mediterranean or "Desert" region. 

 It should he looked for in Sharkia province. 



8. Virachola liuia, Klio. 



This heautiful species is widely disti'ihuted in cult- 

 ivation in the Nile Valley and Delta, strays occasionally 

 into the desert: Mokattam plateau IX. 05 (Ciraves) and is 

 found in the Kharga Oasis (Adair), It is a characteristi- 

 cally African form which has in all [)]ol)ability invaded 

 Kgyi)t by way of the Nile Valley. From III to XI or even 

 latei-. 



Foodplant Pods o( Acacia farnesiaiia(ü[nn). Pomegra- 

 nate, Date. At times noxious to both the last named fruit 

 crops. Larva often attended by ants. ? Myrmecophile. 



Distribution outside Kijijpt . Syria (Beirut), Sudan 

 and Tropical Africa, S. Arabia (Aden). 



y. Thestor (Tomares) ballus, Fabr. 



A characteristically Mediterranean species occurr- 

 ing in Fgypt only in the Marini Steppe. Dakela near 

 Alexandria II. (Andres), Marini Steppe e. I to b. III. 

 ((iraves). 



Of the few specimens 1 have taken, all the males, unli- 

 ke the ordinary Algerian and Rivieran race which has 

 luiicolorous fore-wings, show markings of "sealing-wax 

 red " on the fore-wings. Oberlhur (Lep. (Comparée. Tome 

 I\^) mentions an aberration resembling these Egyptian 

 specimens taken in Algeria. 



