56 ■ ACIDALIA. By L. B. Protjt. 



annubiata. A. annubiata Stgr. (41) is another very close ally of ansulata. The tail of the hind wing may perhaps 



be slightly weaker. The ground-colour is of a warm ochreous tone, the cell-spot of the forewmg, both above 

 and beneath, is weak or obsolescent, that of the hindwing sometimes wanting. The lines are nearly as in 

 adulteraria, but there is no distinct black marginal line, such as occurs in the last-named form. Staudinger 

 says that the colour is quite different, but both vary somewhat in this respect. The under surface lacks the 

 inner line of the forewing, which even above is only weakly expressed, annubiata was described from Samarkand, 

 where it was taken in June and July. Staudinger records that characteristica was found together with it. 

 Occurs also in Transcaspia and elsewhere in Southern Siberia. 



rubellata.' A. rubellata Rbr. (31; 4h, as beckeraria). This name, difficult to determine from Rambur's poor fi- 



gure, was previously cited with a query to consanguinaria Led. (Ptychopoda), but 5 or 6 years ago Homberg 

 examined the type specimen and reported that it certainly belonged to beckeraria Led. By this we must of course 

 miderstand the Iberian representative of beckeraria, which really differs structurally from it; and the further 

 correction has been made by Pungeler. It rather closely resembles the Eastern species with which it has been 

 confused. I have but few examples before me, and if it varies much it may be that the differences here noticed 

 do not always hold. My specimens are of a rather more strongly ochreous tone, the lines less black, inclined 

 to be thicker, only rarely marked with dark (scarcely black) dots on the veins; the discal dots also stand out 

 rather less sharply; the pale subterminal line is rather well defined; the under surface without markings. The 

 distal margin of the hindwing, at least in some specimens, appears rather less strongly convex than in beckeraria, 

 but the difference is only slight. The egg is long-oval with strong longitudinal and weaker transverse ribs, 

 whitish yellow at first, becoming blotched with pink. Larva tapering a little anteriorly, fmely wrinkled, spiracles 

 black ; ventrally very faint uniform greenish, dorsally yellowish, especially the thoracic segments, with an irre- 

 gular, ill-defined dark dorsal Une and on the four central segments often some indistinct paired black marks. 

 Spain and Portugal, two or three broods in the summer. 



cumulata. A. cumulata Alph. (= cretaria Stgr.) (4h) has also, though with still less justification, been regarded 



as a form of beckeraria. It is considerably larger than that species and rubellata, the wmgs more elongate, the 

 (^ hindtibia more slender, the spurs much longer than in rubellata; hmdtarsus long. Vertex of head white, 

 collar darker than in the allies. The ground-colour is nearly the same as in beckeraria, varying, like that spe- 

 cies, in the degree of the ochreous tinge; but in effect it is always greyer, on account of a denser dusting of 

 grey scales. The antemedian and postmedian Imes are more irregular in their course, the median shade very 

 variable — strong, weak or absent. Between the postmedian and subtermmal lines there is usually a band of 

 strong grey shading and the subterminal shows the same expansions as in marginepunctata. Cell-spots rather 

 large and black. The underside is weakly marked but usually shows the cell-spots and traces of the postmedian 

 hne, the distal grey shadmg and the pale subtermmal. Inhabits Central Asia, from Transcaspia to the 

 Ili district. 



decolor. A. decolor Stgr. (described as Acidalina, gen. nov.) is only knowai in the unique ^ type, which I have 



not been able to examine ; and as even the neuration is not indicated the generic position is somewhat doubt- 

 ful. It appears to me not unlikely that its affinities may be with A. flaccata Stgr., but as it has a pair of 

 spurs on the hindtibia it must be placed provisionally in the Section Pylarge. It is described as broad- winged, 

 the distal margin of forewing nearly straight, that of hindwing with a slight bend in the middle ; the antenna {^) 

 weakly serrate with rather long and strong pencils of cilia, the hmdtibia somewhat longer than the femur 

 and almost as long as the tarsus. The body and wings are of a uniform, washed-out bone-yellow, the fringes 

 and the apical part of the forewing beneath more clay-yellow. Chellala, Algeria. 



B. Section Acidalia. (^^ hindtibia with terminal spurs absent (in flaccata some- 

 times with a single spur present). 



immorata. A. immorata L. (= contaminata Scop. = graminata Hufn. = fuscata F.) (4g). This species and the 



following are so distinct m aspect from all others, that some of the older entomologists removed them widely 

 from Acidalia, associating them with Chiasmia (= Strenia) clathrata L., which does not even belong to the same 

 subfamily. The thick dark scaling, thickened and very irregular dark lines (the postmedian rather remote 

 from the distal margm) and broadly darkened borders, contaming the clear white, very u'regular subterminal 

 line, usually in part broken up into wedge-shaped spots, give them a very characteristic facies which to some 

 extent justified the mistake. The structure and the early stages are nevertheless typically those of Acidalia, 

 and the only irregularity other than that of the scheme of markmgs is found in the (J genitalia, which do not 

 seem strictly homogeneous with those of the other species, immorata is so well known and so easily recognized 

 that a detailed description is unnecessary. It occurs throughout a great part of Europe, though more local in 



