ESTIGMENE. 127 



the abdomen is generally red or yellow, with one or more rows 

 of black spots on the back. The antennae are generally 

 strongly pectinated in the male. Two of our British species, 

 Spilosoma lubridpeda (Linn.) and Spilarctia lutea (Linn.), 

 called respectively the White and the Buff Ermine, are com- 

 mon everywhere, even in many London gardens. I used to 

 find them in the garden when I lived in Mornington Crescent, 

 and they are most likely found there still. One genus 

 (Palustrd) Bar.), found chiefly in Buenos Aires, though one 

 species is described from the adjoining state of Uruguay, and 

 another from Cayenne, is remarkable for the aquatic habits of 

 the larva. It is also interesting on account of its locality, for 

 it is possibly a primaeval form derived from tho great southern 

 continent that is believed by some naturalists to have con- 

 nected the southern parts of Africa and America with Aus- 

 tralia, &c. Some of the East Indian species of this Family 

 are very pretty, being white, more or less spotted with black, 

 and with a slender scarlet stripe along the costa of the fore- 

 wings. 



GENUS ESTIGMENE. 



Estigmene, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 184 (1822?) 

 Leucarctia, Packard, Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad. iii. p. 124 (1864); 

 Stretch, Zyg. &. Bomb. N. Amer. p. 98 (1872). 



Estigmene differs from the allied European genera by the 

 greater length both of the thorax and abdomen, the longer 

 and more pointed fore-wings, with the decidedly more oblique 

 hind margin, and the shape of the hind-wings, which are con- 

 siderably longer than broad, with the inner margin sloping out- 

 wards, and the abdomen extending considerably beyond them. 

 The genus is found from Hudson's Bay to Central America, 

 but does not seem to extend to South America. 



