FIVE NKW SPECIES OF PYRALID^. 127 



which have, so to speak, become Lachesis in the course of their 

 development over the Spanish Peninsula. 



I find support for my theory in M. Oberthiir's exposition of 

 the afdnities of Lucasi (" L^pid. Compar6e," fasc. iii, 255-6), 

 also shovi^ing the extent of the collateral route distribution in 

 the group with the lapiigia (= Clotho, Hb., or rather according 

 to Hiibner's description := var. Snwaroviiis, Hbst.), and Galatea 

 of Calabria. Allard (Ann. Soc. Fr., 1867), in his "Notes sur 

 les Insectes de I'Algerie," actually refers Clotho, var. Atropos 

 to Lucasi, Eambur ; but, apart from bionomic differences, M. 

 Oberthur clearly demonstrates that the wing markings of these 

 Sicilian Melanargias approximate far less closely to lapygia 

 than to Galatea. 



M. Oberthur has no difficulty in distinguishing the lapi/gia 

 of Sicily — the dark form (= Atrojjos) superficially not unlike the 

 female Lucasi — from that species. He remarks that, whereas 

 in Lucasi, on the underside of the hind wings, the last nervure 

 originating at the base and abutting on the inner margin, is 

 marked by a dusky streak doubled for a half of its length, form- 

 ing a sort of Y, with the stem of the letter towards the anal 

 angle, in lapgijia the nervure is similarly represented, but the 

 line is straight and without the fork. In the case of Galatea this 

 dusky nervure is also forked, but with the branch reaching in- 

 ternally (" dans le sens interne ") ; while in Lucasithe bifurcation 

 is made externally. With the limited number of Lucasi under 

 my observation, I do not pretend lo challenge this distinctive 

 character, but I am bound to say that the diverse direction of the 

 dusky nervure fork in the Lucasi before rae hardly corroborates 

 M. Oberthiir's diagnosis. Certainly he does not propose to 

 suggest this as a test character. "I believe," he writes, " that 

 for the present we ought to consider Lucasi as a' good species, 

 contiguous at once to Galatea, Larissa, and lapygia," all of which 

 species exhibit the peculiarity to which he draws attention. But 

 then M. Oberthur is not at all partial to distinction by sub- 

 species, and is as reticent on the subject as Friihsdorfer is 

 fertile of invention — a sub-specihst gone mad ! 

 {To he continued.) 



FIVE NEW SPECIES OF PYRALID^, BELONGINa 

 TO THE SUB-FAMILY EPIPASCHIAN^, FEOM 

 FORMOSA. 



By A. E. WlLEMAN AND RiCHARD SoUTH. 



Sycctrotrota catena, sp. n. 

 (J . Fore wings ochreous brown, powdered with darker chiefly 

 between the transverse lines ; costa dotted with white ; antemedial 



