tlu- Old World CjjrUvcnithacrinL 487 



b (a). General coloratiDii pnler. The win<2^- 



iiiscia narrow and short, more or less 



o]j;iolt'te, imperl'ectly niarginatt'cl ; the 



spots in the post-aiial area and in the 



apical part less numerous, sniall/r, and 



paler. (Cape Verde Island.';!, Sudan, [rhodon (Walk.). 



Abyssinia, Aden, Sokotra.) 2h. suhsp. nidauij- 



4 (3). The fascia of the hind wings is along- the 

 hind margin, n(»t extending forward be- 

 yond the middle of the wing; base of 

 the wing yellow, (S. India, Ceylon.). . 3. Jlavescens (F.). 



1. Anacridhim agypt'umiilj.). (Figs. 2 ^, 3 /^.) 



1764. Gn/llus Locusta (Pf/i/ptin-^, Linna:'Us, Mus. Ludov. Ulr. p. 131. 



1910. O'jihaca/it/iacrisj (e(jyptia^ Kirby, Cat. p. 444. no. 6. 



**1870. Acridium indecisuni, Walker, Cat. iii. p. 585. no. 32. 



1870. Acridium albidiferum, Walker, Cat. iv. p. 027. 



Though the type of A, albidiferum does not exist, the 

 d^(.'ri[)tiou of this species and the locality (Sinai) leave no 

 doubt tiiat it is conspecific with cegyptium. As for A. inde- 

 cisu?/)., the type (a female, not male, as Walker indicated in 

 the description) and another male specimen, named by 

 ^^'alker as A. tataricum {^cegyptium ; see Cat. Derm. Salt. 

 B.M. iii. p. 577. no. 1, g.)^ are quite iudistiuguishable from 

 the typical cegyptium^ except by the slightly more acute 

 hind angle of the pronotum, which may be due to the 

 j)revious preservation of the specimens in alcohol, and their 

 supposed origin from South Africa seems to me very 

 doubtful. I think_, therefore, it is better to regard indecisum 

 as a pure synonym of (£gyptium, unless fresh and more 

 reliable records as to the occurrence of this species in South 

 Africa become available ; in that case, and if the more 

 angiilated pronotum proves to be a distinctive feature of 

 South African specimens_, they will have to be regarded as a 

 subspecies to which Walker's name should be applied. 



As the species has been described and figured many times, 

 there is no need to give a description. As regards the 

 variability of its characters, I should like to mention that 

 I liave seen some specimens from Palestine in which the 

 base of the wings is pale violaceous, as may be seen some- 

 times in A. mcpsta and its subsp. melanorhodon (see below). 



Geographical distribution . It is an essentially Mediterranean 

 species, which ranges, as a permanent member of the fauna, 

 not farther northwards than Bordeaux, the Alps, and the 

 Crimea, while the most southern locality is Nubia (Karuy, 

 Sitz. Akad. Wien, Bd. cx\i. Abt. 1, p. 307). In the west it 

 in known from Madeira, while it ranges as far eastwards as 

 Russian Turkestan and Baluchistan (Quetta ; B.M.). 



