8 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Kuching (Mr. John Hewitt, B.A). 



The mandibles are of a paler rufo-testaceous colour than the face. 

 Front and vertex closely strongly punctured. Temples straight, 

 sharply obliquely narrowed. Occiput transverse, margined, as is also 

 the base of the pronotum. Mesonotum and scutellum closely dis- 

 tinctly punctured, the sides of the former depressed. Apex of 

 scutellum obliquely sloped. Metanotal area large, reaching almost 

 to the apex, its base finely closely punctured, the apex smooth and 

 shining ; the sides and apex of metanotum are finely distinctly 

 aciculated. First abscissa of radius longer than the following tw^o 

 united, the second about one-fourth longer than the third. There is 

 a distinct keel between the antennae, projecting clearly above and 

 below them. Apex of clypeus bluntly broadly rounded. Flagellum 

 of antennae dark brownish below. Abdomen smooth, the basal seg- 

 ments more smooth and shining than the others. 



Allied to N. adustn, Sm. 



THE ATHALIA GEOUP OF THE GENUS MELITMA. 

 By Kev. George Wheeler, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from vol. xlii. p. 152.) 



Before speaking of the unnamed forms of aberration in this 

 group it will be well to mention one named variety of M. deione 

 which had hitherto escaped my notice, viz. var. nevadensis, 

 Obth., ' Etudes de la Lepidopt6rologie compar^e,' i. p. 15 (1904), 

 of which he writes as follows: — *"Elle se distingue par une 

 tinte plus pale en dessus comme en dessous ; par les lignes 

 transversales m^dianes des quatre ailes plus anguleuses ; par 

 rabsence, sur les ailes inf^rieures en dessous, pres de la base, de 

 la coloration fauve qui, dans tous les autres exemplaires, remplit, 

 du bord costal au bord anal des ailes, un espace compris entre 

 deux lignes noires et au centre duquel reste une tache chamois 

 clair, c'est-a-dire de la couleur du fond des ailes." In other 

 words, the inner dark band un. s. h. w. is wanting, and the 

 central and basal bands and the light spots coalesce, except for 

 the usual bordering black lines. These specimens were of the 

 second brood, and were taken at a considerable height in the 

 Sierra Nevada. 



This is not a very unusual form of aberration in several 

 species, especially when less completely carried out ; I have seen 

 it more or less completely in athalia, parthenie (esiDecially Italian 



* It is distinguished by a paler tint above and below, by the more 

 angular transverse median hnes on all four wings, by the absence on the 

 hind wings, under side, near the base, of the fulvous colouring, which in all 

 other specimens fills, from the costa to the inner margin, a space enclosed 

 between two black lines, and in the centre of which is a spot of clear yellow, 

 i. e. of the ground colour of the wings. 



