Publ. 30. III. 1913. PTYOHOPODA. By L. B. Prout. 97 



in the dark distal border of the forewing, broken off obliquely towards the apex ; but is entirely different in shajje 

 and in many other particulars. Wings long and narrow, hindwing with distal niargiia strongly sinuate between 

 the radials and more gently from first median to anal angle. Forewing with the Imes and median shade commen- 

 cing from enlarged dark spots on costal margin, sharply angled near costal margin; discal dot black, placed 

 on median shade; a more or less strongly developed dark distal shade, traversed by a fine pale subterminal 

 line; fringe obscurely dark-marked opposite the veins. Hindwing without the first line; dark distal shade 

 less well defined. Under surface darkened with coarser blackish speckling, the basal part more suffused, both 

 wings with cell-dot, median and postmedian lines. (J antenna with the joints thickened, subserrate, the cilia- 

 tion very short. Concerning the early stages I have no information, attenuaria is a very local species, occur- 

 ring in Corsica (where it was first discovered), Sardinia, Sicily and Algeria. On the first-named island, accor- 

 ding to KoLLMORGEN, it is distributed in May and July up to elevations of 800 m. 



Pt. moniliata ScMff. (= ? pentalineata Vill. = omicata F.) (4 b) shows no close resemblance to any monUiata. 

 other known species and can always be recognized at a glance by the series of large, more or less rounded white 

 spots in the distal area of both wings, from which it received its name. Whitish straw-colour, the veins marked 

 with brown; the lines fine, dark, the first two more or less strongly angled near the costal margin; the cell- 

 marks somewhat elongate; both wings with an uninterrupted blackish distal-marginal line, a similar line near 

 the extremities of the fringe and a series of large black dots on the intervening pale part of the fringe. The 

 egg is ovate, somewhat flattened, leather-yellow. The larva is rugose, short, much attenuated anteriorly, yel- 

 lowish brown with rows of fine brown or blackish raised warts, four white lozenge-shaped dorsal spots on the 

 middle segments, dark-bordered and accompanied by smaller white spots; ventral area marked with white 

 on each segment. Pupa slender, pale shining yellow, anteriorly greenish, anal end reddish. The moth appears 

 in the latter part of June and in July, and is widely distributed in Central and Southern Europe and from 

 Asia Mmor to Transcaspia. Staudinger does not specify the Iberian Peninsula in his list of localities, but 

 this is no doubt merely an oversight, as it has there a wide range of distribution. 



I B. Section Ptychopoda. ^ hindtibia with terminal spurs absent (except in asellaria and usually in the 



■rusticata-groivp . ) 



Pt. nexata Hbn. (4 a). White, dusted with brown and with brown markings. Forewing somewhat nexata. 

 suffused with brown in basal area, first and median lines usually approximated, the area between median and post- 

 median nearly free from brown dusting but containing a black discal dot ; postmedian line somewhat sinuous ; 

 distal area brown, containing a white, twice thickened subterminal line rather near the termen; fringe spotted 

 with brown. Hindwing white, with only two brown lines and with less dense brown shading in distal area. Un- 

 der surface similarly marked, forewing without first line. ^ antenna with fascicles of long cilia; hindleg 

 short and slender. The $ is probably more sluggish; in a series of 20 before me there is not a single $; it 

 is said to be stout-bodied, narrower-winged, the brown markings more argillaceous, nexata is very different 

 structurally from ramosaria Vill. {Cleta), with which Lede re e associated it. Staudinger retains it at the commen- 

 cement of his comprehensive genus Acidalia. Possibly it should be referred to the vicinity of exilaria 

 and fatimata. Larva attenuated anteriorly, carinated laterally; yellowish green; dorsal line double, uninter- 

 rupted, reddish brown; subdorsal wanting; lateral line broad, pale, flexuous; spiracles oval, brown, almost 

 imperceptible; ventral area faint bluish green with a single, rather broad, continuous line weakly indicated 

 in greyish ; head small, quadrate, reddish ; prothorax and legs also tinged with reddish. Apparently polyphagous ; 

 Millie RE reared it from the egg on the flowers of Linaria organifolia. Pupa somewhat compact, yellow, washed 

 with greenish, antennae and abdominal incisions more or less reddish, and extremity brown. There seems to be 

 a succession of broods, the duration of the larval and pupal stages in the summer being short. Imago in the 

 spring, at the end of June and in August and even in November — December. Best known from Andalusia, 

 Portugal and Algeria, but Millie re took it in the Basses-Pyrenees. — cirtanaria Luc. is almost certainly a cirtanaria. 

 mere aberration of ?iexato. It seems to be of a rather less pure white, the basal area of the forewing more strongly 

 brown as far as the median shade, which is darkened, the antemedian apparently either wanting or fused 

 with the median; distal brown band rather broad. Described from a single ^ taken near Constantine, 

 Algeria, in May. Lucas and Guenee erroneously compare it with ramosaria and pyginaearia instead of with 

 nexata. ; ' > 



Pt. serpentata Hufn. (= ? trifasciata Scop. = similata Thnh. = limitata Bkh. = ochrearia Dup. serpentaia. 

 nee Hbn. = perochraria Fisch.- Rossi.) (4 a). Rather closely similar, especially in its paler forms or when 

 worn, to ochrata Scop., with which it was often confused by the older entomologists, who did not study the 

 structure. The (J hindtibia, though slender, lacks the spurs which are always developed in the preceding group ; 



IV .13 



