30 



THALERA; HEMISTOLA. By L. B. Prout. 



31. Genus: Thalera Hhn. 



Palpus in both sexes quite small. Antenna in both sexes bipectinate, the branches in the $ very short. 

 Hindtibia with one pair of spurs. Hindwing and sometimes forewing Avith the distal margin crenulate and 

 more or less deeply excised from the first to the third radial. Forewing with first subcostal anastomosing with 

 costal, usually also with second subcostal. Hindwing with costal anastomosing with cell at a point, or shortly, 

 near base, second subcostal shortly stalked. — The larva is slender, resembling a small twig or stalk, the head 

 bifid, prothorax with two anterior points, anal extremity with two points. The genus apparently contains 

 only two or three species, although it has in the past been made to include a number of heterogeneous forms. 

 Even lacerataria is not very closely allied to fimbrialis, the name-type of the genus. 



fimbrialis. 



albaria. 

 chloronaria. 



T. fimbrialis Scop. (= thymiaria L. = bupleuraria Schiff.) (2 g). Green, the forewing with two curved 

 and usually a little denticulate white lines, the hindwing with one, both wings with the fringes spotted with 

 bright brown-red. Varies somewhat in the denticulation of the lines, and in the distance which separates those 

 of the forewing, but is on the whole a rather constant species. — ab. albaria ^sp. is very much paler, the lines 

 not visible. I have not seen it in nature, and suspect it may be due to fading. — var. chlorosaria Graes., from 

 )S. E. Siberia and Korea, is of a paler colour than the type, with the white lines broader. — The larva feeds 

 on various low plants in May and June, and is yellowish green with a red dorsal line, which is sometimes broken 

 up into spots, and with head, prothorax and anal extremity tipped with red. The pupa is yellowish white, dorsally 

 red, with a darker medio-dorsal line and dark dots and streaks, wing-cases dark-veined. The moth appears 

 in July and August and is distributed thi-ough Central Europe and Central Asia, the tjrpical form reaching 

 as far as Dauria, beyond which it gives place to the var. chlorosaria. 



lacerataria. T. lacerataria Graes. (= suavis Swinh.) is readily distinguished by its having the distal margin of the 



fore as well as of the hindwing excised, the ground-colour light olive-green, the lines darker green, not white 

 and each wing with a large red-brown discalspot. The anterior and distal margins are narrowly brown. Ussuri, 

 Korea, Japan, W. China. 



32. Genus: Hemistola Warr. 



Palpus usually short. Antenna in (J and usually in $ bipectinate. Hindtibia with all spurs. Forewing 

 smooth-margined, hindwing usually with a small tail or slight elbow at the end of third radial, occasionally 

 fully rounded. Forewing with first subcostal free or briefly anastomosing with costal. Hindwing with costal 

 approximated to cell for short or moderate distance, second subcostal stalked, first median connate, separate 

 or short-stalked. The larva is only known in the case of one of the species, chrysoprasaria; it is of moderate pro- 

 portions, tapering anteriorly, the characteristic projecting points of head and prothorax very strongly developed, 

 body shagreened with white granules, lateral flange developed. Pupa rather slender, tapering, the shell rather 

 thin, cremaster strong and conical, terminating in several hooked bristles. The genus inhabits Europe and 

 Asia, and a few African species are provisionally placed in it. 



chryso- 

 prasaria 



H. chrysoprasaria jEsp. (= vernaria fl^Sw. nee L. = lucidata Z)ore.) (2 g). Green with the usual white 

 lines, the antemedian of forewing strongly curved and usually with two small, slight teeth directed distad, the 

 postmedian nearly parallel with distal margin, not dentate. Hindwing bluntly elbowed. Varies considerably 

 dentigera. in the distance which separates the two lines on forewing. — dentigera ab. nov. has the postmedian line of fore- 

 lissas. wing dentate, nearly as in zimmermanni. — lissas Prout replaces chrysoprasaria in Central Asia, scarcely 

 differing except in the shape of the hindwing, which is rounded instead of elbowed. The eggs of chryso23rasaria 

 are very flat and are laid in piles of 10 — 14, and being green in colour resemble collectively a tendril of the food- 

 plant, the common clematis. The larva is very sluggish, very rigid and twig-like, and when beaten from its 

 food-plant falls stiff and immobile; it is brown during the winter, but becomes green when the plant puts on 

 its spring foliage. It is full fed about the beginning of June and changes, in a slight web, into a pale greenish 

 pupa. The moth appears in July, and sits by day among clematis, and even when resting on the outside of the 

 bushes is not at all conspicuous, resembling a leaf. Like the larva it is very sluggish by day, and when at leiagth 

 it allows itself to be disturbed it often drops instead of flying. Its time of flight is late in the evening. Distri- 

 buted through central and southern Europe, except the Iberian peninsula, through Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, 

 etc., and in the form lissas as far as the Thian Shan district. I have not seen examples from the Kentei Moun- 

 tains, where it is said also to occur. In Amurland and the Ussuri district nearly typical chrysoprasaria 

 reappears, the specimens often large and with the lines rather widely separated. 



