PTYCHODOPA. By L. B. Prout. 135 



this produced no approach to hilinearia, but does not say whether any change at all resulted; however, the 



Bornich specimens which 1 have seen already approach meridiaria. — ab. depravata Stfjr. is more striking, depravuta. 



on account of the entire absence of the characteristic darl^ band; even the lines arc in general quite indistinct 



and the form almost unicolorous. It occurs in Southern Europe and Dalmatia. — ab. floridaria Piinf/. ab. floridaria. 



nov. (2,k, as floridata) "Ground-colour deep rose-red, somewrhat tinged with brown, darlc median band, as in 



depravata, almost wanting, in single specimens of the autumn generation as distinct as in degeneraria. Bred 



in numbers through several generations together with degeneraria Hbn. as autumn form and ab. depravata 



Stgr. as summer form, yet without transitions to either, from eggs of a ? caught at Bastia, Corsica, end of 



May 1911, by P. POngeler; also from Sardinia, Geo. C. Krijger 1911". POngeler (i. 1. 10**' February 1912) 



adds some interesting detail which suggests the possibility that there is in this species some form of Mendelian 



inheritance, perhaps complicated by seasonal variation. The original ? was red. The offspring (end of July 



to mid August 1911) about half red and half depravata, no banded forms in either section. From these red 



floridaria there were bred in October - November about 25% degeneraria and no depravata, 75% being 



floridaria, a few only of these latter dark-banded. Herr Pijngeler does not think it necessary to supply a 



separate name for the banded floridaria but proposes that in statistical work we should distinguish the two 



as degeneraria-floridaria and depravata-floridaria. I have an example of the former from Majorca, 1 June 1905. 



It should be added that typical depravata from Sicily, bred through several generations, has been known to 



remain true, like a Mendelian pure dominant or pure recessive, but a ? from the East Pyrenees produced a 



mixed brood of degeneraria and depravata. Larva moderately thick, gradually tapering anteriorly and with 



a rounded lateral ridge; skin rugose, strongly folded transversely; head small; body rather variable in colour, 



red-brown or blackish, the form meridiaria, according to Milliere, on an average lighter than the type; 



thoracic segments with red-brown dorsal spots; the first 4 or 5 abdominals with red-brown lozenge-shaped 



dorsal markings or at least with dark V-shaped marks indicating their posterior boundary; lateral line white, 



not sharply defined ; ventral surface blackish, with pale spots on the middle segments. Pupa short and rather 



thick, moderately glossy, chestnut-brown, the anal segment and cremaster much darker. The moth is generally 



double-brooded, appearing in April-May and again from the end of July, frequenting warm hedges, etc. 



It is local in England, France, Germany and Austria, but more general in Southern Europe, N. Africa and 



from Asia Minor to Central Asia. — erschoffi Chr. (3i, as erschoffiaria) is probably nothing more than an ersehoffi. 



Eastern local race of degeneraria. Except that the apex of the forewing is somewhat more acutely produced 



1 can find no essential difference, and Herr Pijngeler informs me that degeneraria from Transcaucasia and 



Central Asia in general incline in this direction. As an aberration, this wing-form may also be occasionally 



almost reproduced in Western specimens; thus I have one example from Philippeville, Algeria. Christoph's 



figure is redder, but this is not important. The only example before me, from Astrabad, is rather larger 



than average degeneraria, the discal dots rather large, almost as in ruhraria, the coloration and markings 



almost entirely as in normal degeneraria ; the first and median lines are a good deal darker and less reddish 



than the band which they enclose, and a dark shadowy band distally to postmedian line is rather better 



developed than in most degeneraria. The form erschoffi is recorded from Transcaucasia, Persia and Transcaspia. 



Pt. rubraria Stgr. (4g). Confusingly near the non-banded forms of degeneraria (depravata and ruhraria. 

 floridaria). Both Staudinger and Fuchs originally regarded it as a mere form of that species, but Fuchs in 

 1886 announced its specific distinctness and later, in a very long article (Jahrb. Nassau. Ver. Nat. vol. 42, 

 p. 211 — 218), worked out the question more fully. In Staudinger's latest edition it is called a Darwinian 

 species. On an average somewhat larger and more robust than degeneraria, without any tinge of greenish, 

 the discal dots larger, the postmedian line finer and sharper, in general more acutely angled on the first 

 radial and usually somewhat more incurved posteriorly, well developed also on the under surface ; the median 

 shade is present on the upper surface, but never very strong, never widened into a band but consisting only 

 of a vague thick line, which is placed on the forewing close distally to the discal dot and on the hindwing 

 proximally to it. The d^ antennal joints project appreciably more than in degeneraria. In the name-type 

 the groimd-colour is reddish all over, the median shade slightly darker. — ab. bilinenaria Fuchs is considerably hilinenaria. 

 paler, ochreous with hardly any red tinge but with the median shade decidedly reddish. In the Rheingau, 

 and perhaps in most localities, it is the common or form, the biological "type". Whether, as was at first 

 conjectured, the form rubraria really occurs more frequently in the ? sex than in the cT now appears very 

 doubtful. — f. therinaria F. Fuchs is a smaller, finely scaled, almost unmarked form, very rare in a state of therinaria. 

 nature but frequently obtained by breeding, representing a second generation. — The larva looks at first 

 glance quite different from that of degeneraria, but this is chiefly on account of a strong darkening of the 

 ground-colour, or at least a strong dark admixture, in the anterior two- thirds, excepting the head. 

 Body much flattened, thick in the middle, tapering anteriorly, lateral ridge strongly protuberant, constricted 

 at the segment-incisions; venter more rounded; ground-colour grey or yellowish grey, anterior two-thirds 

 dorsally darkened to brown or even black-brown; a double medio-dorsal line, scarcely discernible except on 

 [he paler part, accompanied by indistinct oblique streaks running out anteriorly; ventral area brown, with 



