400 SATYRID^. 



Genus XXVIII. STEROMA Westw. MS. 



Body small ; wings broad, all irregularly scalloped ; the fore wings angulated below the apex, destitute of ocelli ; but 



the hind pair mottled with black and silvery scales beneath. 

 Head rather wide, hairy, especially in front, where the hairs form a small loose tuft. 



£i/es prominent, finely hairy. 



Labia! Palpi short, almost erect, the tip being elevated much higher than the level of the top of the eyes, but not 

 porrected in front so far as the length of the head, very densely clothed with hairs, especially in front, but 

 not forming so compressed a mass as in most of the preceding species ; terminal joint small and ovate, not 

 thickly hairy. 



AntenncB not near half the length of the fore wings, slender, with the articulations not very distinct; terminated 

 by an elongate-ovate rather slender club, gradually formed at its base, concave on its anterior or inner surface ; 

 the tip bent outwards. 

 Thorax elongate -ovate, moderately hairy. 



Fore Wings large, broadly subtriangular. Costal margin arched, the curve strongest just beyond the middle of 

 the wing ; apical angle truncated. Apical margin about two thirds of the length of the costal, irregularly 

 scalloped ; the lower discoidal vein being produced into a prominent tooth, or conical lobe, on the margin, a 

 little below the apex. Inner margin nearly straight, nearly as long as the costal. Costal, median, and 

 subraedian veins swollen at the base. Postcostal vein with its second branch ai'ising just beyond the anterior 

 extremity of the discoidal cell ; the fourth branch extending to the tip of the wing. Upper disco-cellular vein 

 very short, transverse : middle disco-cellular long, much arched, the arch being directed towards the base of 

 the wing: lower disco-cellular shorter than the middle one, straight, and. transverse; uniting with the third 

 branch of the median vein at a greater distance from its origin than exists between the first and second 

 branches of the median. 



Hind Wings broad, subtriangularly ovate. Costal margin produced near its extremity into a broad rounded lobe. 

 Outer margin forming a series of deep scallops ; anal angle produced into a broad rounded lobe. The inner 

 margin emarginate towards its extremity. Costal vein curved, and extending into the lobe of the costal 

 margin, of which it follows the outline. Postcostal vein arising just opposite to the precostal one, branching 

 at a considerable distance from its base. Upper disco-cellular ai'ising at a short distance from the base of the 

 branch, and nearly as long as the space between the base and bi'anch of the postcostal vein, curved at its base : 

 lower disco-cellular but slightly oblique, short ; uniting with the third branch of the median vein at about the 

 same distance from its base as the length of the lower disco cellular itself. 



Fore Legs of the male small, about as lai-ge as the labial palpus, very densely hairy. Tarsus about half the length 

 of the tibia. 



Four Hind Legs rather short. Femur thickly hairy. Tibiae scaly, slightly spined at the sides beneath ; tibial 

 spurs short. Tarsi with the joints also spined at the sides and beneath. Ungues small. 

 Abdomen small and slender. 



The broad wings, with their singular scalloped margin (at once recalling to mind some of the genera of Nymplialidie), the lobe of the 

 costal margin of the hind wings, and the short, erect, densely hairy palpi, are sufficient to distinguish the type of tliis genus from the 

 rest of the family. This insect is remarkable for its uniform brownish black colour ; the middle of the disc of the fore wings in the 

 male presenting a silky kind of patch, bearing near the extremity of the discoidal cell a few long hairs. On the under side, the fore 

 wings are uniformly paler brown, except at the tip, where they are freckled with white and black ; whilst the hind ones are entirely 

 freckled with the same colours, mingled with silver scales, of which there is a large irregular patch adjoining the costa. There are 

 several undescribed species of this genus, natives of liolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela ; in none of them, however, ai'e the generic 

 characters so fuUy developed as in the species which we have figured, the wings being less deeply scalloped ; in all, however, we find 

 the peculiar silvery patches of the under side of the hind wings, and the dark colour of the upper surface of all the wings. 



STEROMA. 



I. Stkb. Bega. 



Steroma Bega Westwood MS. ; Doubl. IVestw. Hj Hewits. Gen. D. Lcjt. pi. GO. f. fi. 

 Venezuela. B. M. 



