ACIDALIA. By L. B. Prout. 77 



basal half. A. imitaria is a decidedly variable species, but the aberrations pass into one another by such gra- 

 dual transitions and are for the most part so little striking that it does not seem expedient to provide them 

 with names. The ground-colour is sometimes very pale, sometimes strongly reddish or again more ochreous; 

 the lines usually well expressed, sometimes quite weak, the median shade now reddish, now grey or even 

 blackish. The discal spot of the hindwing is very rarely obsolescent, but that of the forewing is not in- 

 frequently faint and may even vanish entirely. — ab. kesslitzi Hirschke is perhaps the most striking form, kessliizi. 

 In this the median line, which generally gives to the species its characteristic appearance, is entirely ab- 

 sent. — The egg is elongate-ovate, strongly flattened at its broader end, with the longitudinal ribbing strong, 

 its coloration as in the allied species. The larva is extremely long and slender, the skin transversely and very 

 irregularly wrinkled; head small, rounded; body pale ochreous with a distinct brown dorsal line, often 

 partly broken up into spots anteriorly, but becoming darker and more continuous posteriorly; ventral surface 

 mixed with fuscous ; spiracles black. Varieties occur in which the ground-colour is more grey, or more tinged 

 with greenish or with red-brown, but it is always of some pale shade. The pupa in golden brown, with och- 

 reous yellow wing-cases. The imago appears in June and July, and there is often a partial second brood later. 

 It hides by day in bushes or among rank grass or other plants, flies at dusk and is strongly attracted 

 by light. Widely distributed in Southern and Central Europe, becoming more local eastwards. Also inhabits 

 N". Africa and Asia Minor to Armenia 



A. rivularia Leech (3 e, 5 e). Pale ochreous brown sprinkled with blackish, the markings fuscous. Hvularia. 

 Forewing with first line bent in cell, then oblique and dentate; median shade rather thick, dentate, twice 

 incurved ; postmedian bent outwards near costa, somewhat incurved between the radials and again posteriorly, 

 also dentate; followed by a fuscous shade; discal mark usually annular, distal margin dotted with black 

 between the veins. Hindwing with distal margin sharply angled at third radial; the markings, excepting the 

 first line, nearly as on forewing, the median shade bending round the black cell-spot on its proximal side. Un- 

 der surface paler, wanting the inner line of forewing and with the other lines less well developed than above. 

 (J antennal ciliation short, hindtarsus about one half as long as tibia. Chang Yang and Moupin in June and 

 July. A large and conspicuous species. 



A. bimacularia Leech (5 e) is smaller than rivularia, the markings more ferruginous and much less zig- bimacularia. 

 zag ; the first and median lines of the forewing finer and less strongly developed, the median of the hindwing 

 on the other hand broadly diffused so as to enclose the black-cell-spot ; the brown cell-spot of the forewing, 

 though larger than a mere dot, is not annular; the brown shade distally to the postmedian is in general weaker, 

 but contains on the forewing conspicuous ferruginous or blackish blotches at the posterior margin and between 

 the radials, as in the ornata-groxip, the postmedian line itself here black. Underside of forewing suffused, of 

 hindwing whitish, the postmedian line of the former less decidedly, of the latter scarcely at all followed 

 by dark shading, the ornata-like blotches wanting. (J antenna subdentate, with rather long fascicles of cilia; 

 hindtibia strongly thickened, tarsus about one-half its length. Chow-pin-sa and Pu-tsu-fong, W. China, June 

 and July. 



A. extitnaria Walk. (= stigmata Moore) from N. W. India is very similar to bimacularia, but differs extimaria. 

 in having the hindwing only very weakly angled, the ^ hindtibial hair-pencil black, hindtarsus shorter, the 

 cell-spot of the forewing smaller and darker, the abdomen with some dark dorsal markings and the ground- 

 colour in general slightly more tinged with reddish. 



A. moorei Cotes & Swinh. (= similaria Moore nee Walk.) is of a more reddish shade than either of moorei. 

 the preceding, with finer but more copious dark dusting, giving it a rougher aspect. The angle in the 

 margin of the hindwing, as in extimaria, is very slight. The position of the markings is almost exactly as in 

 bimacularia, but the inner line and cell-spot of the forewing and the median shade of both wings are still 

 weaker, sometimes almost entirely lost in the uniform dark dusting. The ferruginous blotches distally to the 

 postmedian line are also less well developed than in bimacularia, but the blackening of the postmedian itself 

 in these places remains. In the antennal and leg structure I find no appreciable difference. The tjrpe form 

 occurs in N. W. India, though originally described from Bengal. — rtlfigrisea subsp. nov. (= walk'='.ri Leech, nee rufigrisea. 

 Btl.) (3 m as walkeri) differs markedly in tone of colour, being of a pinkish grey instead of ochreous-rufous. 

 In consequence of this difference of colour, the ferruginous spots distally to the postmedian line usually stand 

 out better contrasted than in moorei moorei, though still not so sharply as in bimacularia. In one or two spe- 

 cimens before me the angle in the distal margin of the hindwing is rather stronger, forming a transition 

 towards bimacularia. Central and Western China from Chang Yang and Ichang to Moupin, showing no va- 

 riation in tone of colour and very little in the strength of the markings. Flies in June and July. 



