2S4 European Butteki-lies axd Mothh. 



GENUS Vni. — METOPONIA (DUP.). 



Fore-wings with the hind margin ahiiost perpendicular, sh'ghtly oblique below, or with the 

 hind margin oblique and nearly straight ; uniform yellow, with a black dot in the middle. 

 The larva: are naked, with sixteen legs. The moths appear in June, and expand about 

 i^ inches. 



1. M. Vespertalis (Hiibn.). — Pale ochre-yellow, slightly varied with brownish, with violet- 

 grey fringes, and a black dot in the middle of the fore-wings. Inhabits South Europe in 

 dry sunny places. It rests with its wings sloping, and is easily disturbed during the day. 

 {M. Agatha, Stand., from Greece, has straw-coloured fore-wings, with a curved ochre-yellow 

 stripe, a spot of the same colour in the middle, with a black dot on each side ; border ochre- 

 yellow ; hind-wings smoky-bro\vn.) 



2. II. Kockeritziana (Hiibn.), Flava (Hiibn.). — Fore-wings pale sulphur-yellow, with a black 

 dot in the middle ; all the fringes yellowish-grey ; hind-wings dark grey. Inhabits South-Eastern 

 Europe, and the yellow larva feeds on larkspur. 



GENUS IX. — MEGALODES (GUliN.). 



Resembles Metoponia, but twice as large and rather stouter ; the antenna; are rather 

 thick, and ciliated in the male. The only species, M. Exiniia (Freyer), from Turkey and Asia 

 Minor, has greenish-grey fore-wings, interrupted with dirty white on the nervures and 

 fringes ; the two stigmata indistinct, the transverse lines dirty white, the inner and subter- 

 minal lines straight, and the elbowed line projecting round the reniform stigma, and then 

 curving inwards, thus making the narrow central area triangular. Hind-wings light ashy-grey, 

 rather darker in the female than in the male, and with paler fringes. It sits on mallows, with 

 its wings sloping, and its larva, which resembles that of a Plusia, feeds on the same plants. 



GENUS X. — METOPTRIA (GUEN.). 



Resembles the last genus in size and structure, but the body and antennae are more 

 slender. The only species, M. Monogi'avivia (Hiibn.), has the fore-wings pale yellowish-green 

 as far as the central shade, and olive-brown beyond. The subterminal line is very distinct, 

 pale, and slightly undulated, and the reniform stigma is whitish and constricted, which gives it 

 the form of an 8. Hind-wings orange-yellow, with a broad blackish border, rather ill-defined 

 in the middle. The female is browner, with the lines lost in the ground-colour. Expands 

 about 1^ inches. Inhabits South-Westcrn Europe in May and June, flying in the sunshine in 

 grassy places, and often settling on the ground. The larva feeds on the flowers of Psuraka 

 bituiniuosa. 



FAMILY XVHI.— DELTOIDS. 



Fore-wings more or less broadly triangular, with rectangular or pointed tips, rarely 

 rounded ; grey, brown, or yellowish, seldom with the usual Noctua-^zXXzx^ ; the stigmata are 

 generally absent or only slightly marked, but from one to three pale or dark transverse lines 

 are generally present. The hind-wings extend nearly as far as the tip of the abdomen, and 

 the lines of the fore-wings are frequently continued across them. The abdomen is occasionally 

 slightly crested, and the antcnnre and legs are frequently provided with appendages. The 



