PTYCHOPODA. By L. B. Prout. 95 



strongly developed, nearly straight, very slightly oblique, becoming faint or obsolete before costal margin 

 of fore wing. Fringes with small dark dots at base. Under surface of f ore wing with dark suffusion ; of hindwing 

 less dark-speckled than above, hence appearing whiter. The larva is rather short, attenuated anteriorly, the 

 lateral carination slight, the transverse folds very strong; a broad brown dorsal stripe, the lateral area paler, 

 without a strongly marked pale spiracular line; spiracles small, black, not visible to the naked eye; head 

 small, perpendicularly marked with brown; meso- and metathorax each with a well-marked brown dot on 

 the side. On Euphorbia spinosa, the leaves in preference to the flowers. Grows very slowly. Pupa brown 

 anteriorly, abdominal segments reddish. Imago in July. Spain, S. France, N. Italy, Dalmatia and Bithynia. 



Pt. renataria Ob. (= mediaria? Ob. nee Hhn.) (4 b) resembles mediaria in the broad blackish median renataria. 

 line, but differs in so many characters that confusion ought to be impossible. Larger, both wings narrower, 

 more elongate, forewing rather more brownish, without distinct first line ; median shade more oblique, on hmd- 

 wing much nearer to the base; postmedian line of forewing followed by a thick dark line, that of hind- 

 wing by a shade as broad and conspicuous as the median shade. The underside is similar to the upper 

 or only a little more suffused and less distinctly marked. (J antennal ciliation short. Out of three specimens 

 examined, two show the first subcostal vein of the forewing free, as in Gleta; in one example this is the case, 

 and very markedly, in both wings, while in the other the first subcostal on one wing touches (but scarcely 

 anastomoses with) the stalk of the others. Algeria ; end of April. 



Pt. sericeata Hbn. (4b) is again very distinct and easily recognized, the only similar species being the sericeata. 

 following. White, very glossy, the lines bright light brown, very variable in breadth but on the forewing commonly 

 so broad as to reduce the ground-colour itself to a series of four wavy lines, or occasionally even only three, the 

 second and third brown lines being sometimes fused into a band, containing only a few small white spots. 

 Hindwing with only two lines (bands) and distal margin brown. Under surface similar, the brown coloration 

 usually darker, the basal part of forewing more suffused, but remaining whitish towards posterior margm. ^ 

 antenna very shortly ciliated. The $$ are smaller, rather narrower, on an average more sharply marked, with 

 the brown lines or bands less broad. I have one or two pretty forms from Vigo in which the white colour 

 largely preponderates over the brown, sericeata is locally abundant in warm meadows in Southern Europe 

 and Asia Minor and is also recorded from Transcaucasia, the Hi and Issyk Kul. Egg ellipsoid, short, strongly 

 compressed laterally, with large, very regular hexagonal depressions. Larva tapering anteriorly from the fifth 

 abdominal, which is the broadest; laterally carinated; skin rugose, with distinct folds and small warts, par- 

 ticularly in the anterior and posterior part; yellowish grey, with very slight tinge of green, finely spotted 

 with brown, fifth abdominal ventrally pale, a double brown dorsal line, most distinct posteriorly; no sub- 

 dorsal, merely some brownish spots ; some dark lateral spots opposite the spiracles. Pupa moderately elongate, 

 dark reddish brown, anally blackish, wings lighter, with distinct veins. The moths flies in May — -June. 



Pt. allardiata Mab. (4 b) represents sericeata in Algeria and scarcely differs except in having the lines allardiata. 

 straighter, the sscond and third narrower and nearer together (or, when they coalesce, forming a narrower 

 band), the white band distally to them almost perfectly straight, not showing the definite outward bend in the 

 middle which always occurs in sericeata. The average size is larger, but this can not be relied upon as a di- 

 stinction. The brown parts are on the whole slightly lighter and less bright. Our figures scarcely show the 

 distinctions. 



Pt. merklaria Ob. (4 o) is a very distinct species, with the forewing rather narrow, its apex acute, merklaria. 

 the distal margin slightly concave behind the apex, then straight, the hindwing also narrow. The ground- 

 colour is variable, oftenest white or with a weak yellowish tinge, the basal part at least largely shaded 

 with yellowish; the lines yellow-brown, parallel with the distal margin, usually accompanied, as in the figured 

 example, by light yellowish bands which leave the white ground-colour in alternating bands, somewhat recal- 

 ling the scheme of pattern in the two preceding species, or in circuitaria, with which Oberthur compares it. 

 The under surface is similarly marked to the upper. The (J antennal ciliation is only of quite moderate length. 

 Variation consists in the colour and strength of the suffusion, which may be darker or even slightly reddish, 

 and in the strength of the lines. OsERTHtiR's figure shows a very white form, with the bands not strongly 

 developed. — ■ ab. terentius Baker is a dark aberration, with the ground-colour ochreous brown and the terentius. 

 lines more fuscous, but as it seems to be connected with the tjrpe-form by intermediates it is not susceptible 

 of absolutely sharp differentiation, merklaria is only known from Algeria, where it occurs in March and April; 

 the type specimen of ab. terentius is from Lambessa. 



Pt. fathmaria Oberih. (4d). Wings quite narrow, the distal margin of the hindwing without strong excision fathmaria. 



