286 LEPIDOP TERA . 



3. S. menthastri, Schiff. — 'Expanse 1| to 1| inch. 

 Fore wings white with numerous black dots ; hind wings 

 white with a few small black spots. 



Antennee shortly but strongly pectinated in the male, 

 blackish ; head and thorax densely covered with long fluffy 

 white scales ; abdomen bright yellow with a row of rather 

 squared black spots down the middle of the back and a row 

 down each side. Fore wings broad, with blunt, almost squared 

 apex, and gently rounded margins ; clear white or creamy 

 white with numerous black dots which appear to be scattered 

 promiscuously over the wings, but have really a certain 

 arrangement which becomes obvious in the more strongly 

 marked specimens, a curved transverse line of dots becoming 

 thus visible before the middle, a still more curved and 

 elbowed transverse series beyond the middle (forming the 

 usual first and second lines), a row of short streaks in pairs 

 running in from the apex, and a row of pairs of short streaks 

 close to the hind margin ; other dots cluster about the end of 

 the discal cell, or indicate a transverse line near the base of 

 the wing ; cilia white. Hind wings broad and rounded, with 

 a conspicuous black central spot, and a varying number of 

 small, often divided, black spots within the hind margin, one 

 of which near the apex is the most permanent ; cilia white. 

 Female slightly larger with stouter body, and the antennae 

 very shortly pectinated or dentate, with the underside greyish ; 

 otherwise similar. Underside of all the wings white, with 

 the black dots of the upper side faintly indicated or partially 

 absent, especially so in the middle portion of the fore wings ; 

 but the apical row of short streaks is usually distinct, and 

 the central and sub-apical spots of the hind wings very 

 pronounced. Abdomen whitish with two rows of black 

 dots ; legs black with dense tufts of white scales on the 

 tibiae. 



Very variable in the size and number of the black dots on the 

 fore wings, ranging from an almost complete absence thereof 

 to their increase and aggregation into transverse rows, or 



