PTYGHOPODA. By L. B. Prout. 91 



and colour, but the variation does not appear to be to any very marked degree local, and the three at- 

 tempts which have been made to indicate local races have not been entirely successful, although they are of 

 some service in showmg general tendencies. I quote them as "forms", a vague general term which can include 

 both the conception of an aberration and that of a local race. • — ■ f. sicula Z. {= accretata Fuchs) is the sicula. 

 large form which is prevalent in many southern localities and perhaps in some (as in Sicily, whence came 

 Zeller's and Fuchs's tj^es) forms a moderately well-defined race. It is paler than the form which is 

 regarded as the type, less mixed with reddish, but shows otherwise a similar range of variation. The distinc- 

 tion in the course of the median line, founded by Fuchs on a single specimen, is quite unreliable. — f. al- albida. 

 bida Ribbe is a very light form, said to be prevalent in Southern Spain but also to be met with occasio- 

 nally in other localities. It is not well described, but is probably similar to an aberration which is rather 

 frequent in Crete (among darker and brighter forms), the ground-colour very pale ochreous, between the me- 

 dian and postmedian lines sometimes almost white, the reddish lines sometimes of almost the same colour 

 as in the tjrpe-form, hence rather distinct, sometimes paler. It should be added that I have many examples 

 from Northern and Central Spain and only very few of these are of the albida form; the majority agree with 

 my material from Italy, Turkey, etc. — f. cantiata fo7-7n. nov. {= perochraria Chien. nee Fisch.-Ross.) is a cantiaia. 

 small, rather dull form with but little red in its colouring. It is rather pale, but less so than albida. It forms 

 a fixed local race in England, where it is almost confined to one locality on the coast of Kent; but similar 

 specimens might be picked out occasionally from among continental material. Guenee was the first to call 

 attention to this race, which he calls var. A, quoting the untenable name of perochraria Steph. — The egg 

 of ochrata is oval, strongly ribbed and finely reticulated, its colour straAv -yellow, changing to brown just before 

 hatching. The larva is moderately stout, tapering anteriorly; head rather flat and small; skin rugose, lateral 

 ridge developed; yellowish grey, with fine double dorsal grey line obscurely indicated, subdorsal indicated 

 by broken rows of grey dots. Polyphagous like most of the genus, but apparently preferring withered flowers. 

 Buckler's statement that the anterior prolegs of this larva are placed on the seventh abdominal segment 

 is erroneous. Pupa light, shining chestnut brown,^anal extremity darker brown. 



Pt. subochraria Stgr. is only known to me from the description. The hindtibial structure is not indi- subochraria. 

 cated and as it is said to be intermediate between perochraria {serpentata) and numidaria it is possible that 

 it should be placed with the former, in the spurless group. Ground-colour light ochreous with sharp black 

 discal dot and usually four darker lines or narrow bands, which are slightly dentate or waved. Sometimes 

 one of the lines is wanting. The colour is similar to that of light numidaria. The large black discal spot of 

 both wings distinguishes it from both the species mentioned, but it differs chiefly in the (J antenna, which 

 has longer and more widely separated teeth. On the underside only the two outer dark lines are distinct and 

 these are less strong than in numidaria, the first of them nearer to the discal spot. JSTortli Ferghana (Namangan). 



Pt. numidaria Luc. (4 b). Related to ochrata, but of a yellower tone of colour, without the coarse numidaria. 

 darker dusting of that species, the under surface consequently much lighter. The lines are more wavy, the 

 fringes not concolorous but distally greyer, though less strongly in some specimens than in others, and not 

 shown in our figure. Structurally numidaria agrees with ochrata, but the forewing appears slightly broader, 

 the distal margin being somewhat less oblique. Algeria. 



Pt. rufariai76w. (4 b) superficially resembles a large, pale form of ochrata. The ground-colour is nearly TO/aria. 

 the same, but in general slightly less ochreous, in the ^ paler, in the $ often rather more tinged with rufous, 

 the lines on an average more brownish. They are similarly placed, but the median and postmedian of the hind- 

 wing more often stand near together, rather recalling the position in macilentaria. The postmedian of the fore- 

 wing is rather more sinuous and denticulate ; the shading on either side of the pale subterminal is on an ave- 

 rage weaker. The fringes are not dark-dotted. The underside is less dusted. But the best distinction in the 

 markings is in the presence on both wings of a conspicuous blackish discal dot, that of the forewing generally 

 small, that of the hindwing larger. Structurally the (^^ are very easy to discriminate ; in rufaria the antennal 

 ciliation is extremely short, much shorter than the diameter of the shaft ; in ochrata the joints project strongly 

 and the ciliation is rather long, arranged in pairs of fascicles. • — ab. nigrocinctaria F. Fuchs is described as nigm- 

 having three thick black transverse striae through both wings and occurs regularly among the type-form in the cincfaria. 

 Bornich district. I have seen forms with one or two of the lines (especially the postmedian) strongly blackish, 

 but nothing so extreme as this. There is, however, much variation in the tone of the ground-colour and the 

 strength of the markings. A grey aberration (or local race?) with three dark transverse striae, the other 

 lines obsolete, of which two examples from N. Caucasus (lelesnovodsk, July) are recorded by Alpheraky, 

 may provisionally be regarded as a colour modification of this form. Larva of moderate proportions, not tapering 

 very strongly anteriorly; yellowish grey, the pale mediodorsal line distinct, dark edged, accompanied by irre- 



