zygaiNida:. 127 



4. Z. trifolii, -E'sp. — Expanse 1 to If mch. 



Fore wings opaque, glossy, dark blue-green with five red 

 spots; hind wings red, with rather broad blue margin; 

 antennae short and stout. 



Antennee black, rather thick from the base, very so 

 beyond the middle, rather short, strongly curved forward, 

 and then recurved in the thick portion, so that the rather 

 blunt apex bends back. Head and thorax black ; abdomen 

 deep blue-black. Fore wings rather long, narrow at the 

 base, broader towards the hind margin, which, with the apex, 

 is much rounded, but having a slight anal angle ; costal and 

 dorsal margins slightly arched at the base, then straight ; 

 opaque, very glossy, dark blue-green or blue-grey with 

 greenish reflections ; with five rich crimson-scarlet spots ; 

 two, close together and rather elongated, at the base, two, 

 rounded, in the middle of the wing, of which the lower is 

 usually double the size of the upper, and one beyond, rounded 

 or slightly ovate ; cilia blackish-blue. Hind wings moderately 

 long, broader than in the preceding species, bluntly pointed, 

 with the hind margin straight or even a little hollowed before 

 the anal angle ; crimson-scarlet or pale scarlet, with a some- 

 what broad irregular rich purple-blue stripe along the hind 

 margin ; cilia of the same colour. Sexes alike, except that 

 the female is stouter with rather broader fore wings ; there 

 is also a tendency to blue in the colour of the fore wings of 

 the male, to green in that of the female. Underside like the 

 upper, except that the blue-grey is more smoky. 



Variable in the size of the spots of the fore wings, and 

 also in their liability to coalesce, so that very often there are 

 only three rather large spots in a line, the first two pairs 

 each completely uniting ; less commonly the united middle 

 pair is joined to the outer spot by a slender line, or more 

 completely into a long constricted blotch, and in the latter 

 case there is frequently an approach to or union between the 

 basal and middle united pairs in different degrees until all 



