138 



PTYCHOPODA. By L. B. Prout. 



of the book, gave the right determination. In a beautiful copy in the Walsingham Museum (recently presented 

 remutata. to the British Museum) it is absolutely unmistakable and is as here described. — ab. retnutata L. (= ? 

 concatenata Hnfn. = trilineata Hufn. = murinata F. nee Scop. = aversata Guen. = spoliata Stgr., (4g): 

 This very abundant form differs the type in the entire absence of the dark band between the median and 

 postmedian lines. Guenei?; considers this form "naturally" the type of the species, ignoring Linn^'s description; 

 at the same time, unlike most other observers, he finds the true aversata form (which he calls var. lividata) 

 "as common' as this. Normally ab. remutata has the same, ground-colour as typical aversata, but sometimes, 

 as in the example which we figure, it is more or less yellowish in tone, approaching the colour of ab. 

 fuliginata. ciurata. — ab. fuliginata Haiv. may perhaps be, as Guenee indicates, a form with the ground-colour darkened, 

 yet with the band still appreciably darker; but it is not well described and the type specimen appears to be 

 lost, while a specimen labelled fulginata by Stephens in the British Museum collection dots not agree with 

 effuscata. the description. — ab. effuscata Galvagni is a further development of ab. lividata, with the dark colour 

 atrata. extended over the entire marginal area of- both wings. — ab. atrata F. Fuchs (= suffumata Lambifl.) is the 

 most extreme development, the entire surface of both wings being covered with blackish atoms, the lines still 

 darker. It was described by Fuchs from Lorch-am-Bhein, and by Lambillion from Dinant, but I have seen 

 some fine examples in our London collections and there is some reason to believe that, like so many 

 melanotic forms, it is here becoming commoner. In very extreme cases the melanism becomes perfect, the 

 auraia. wings being of a uniform glossy blackish. — ab. aurata Fuchs has the ground-colour bright clay-yellow, 

 usually (at least in the specimens which I have seen) with a slight reddish tinge. The Jiand is commonly 

 present, but Fuchs also includes non-banded forms. None of the above-described aberrations shows any 

 marked tendency to form a local race, and often three or four of them may be obtained in the offspring of 

 a single ?. The early stages of aversata have long been well known, and were described in the works of 

 ScHWARz, Sepp and other old authors. The egg is similar to that of inornata, the concavities not deep; pale 

 reddish yellow, becoming darker and irregularly marked with red. Larva moderately stout, tapering anteriorly, 

 somewhat flattened, with a projecting and puckered lateral ridge; head small (but, according to a side-by-side 

 comparison by Heylaerts, less small than that of inornata), reddish brown thickly dusted with black; body 

 rugose, skin transversely folded, dull brown, posterior four segments paler, tinged with ochreous; dorsal line 

 whitish, indistinct, on the thorax and last four abdominals with a dark bordering, on the intermediate segments 

 accompanied by brown V-shaped markings, the arms of the V more widely separated than in inornata; one 

 or two white dorsal spots; subdorsal line indistinct; lateral line whitish ochreous; underside dark, with a 

 blunt pale wedge-shaped blotch on each segment, containing two brown lines, and followed by a smaller one 

 in which is a grey V. Polyphagous on low plants. During the winter it hibernates very completely, even 

 when kept in a warm room; and it has been observed to maintain its vitality for some months when kept 

 entirely without food. Pupa smooth but not glossy, rather blunt anteriorly; pale reddish brown, darker 

 dorsally and at the segmental incisions, wings greenish, cremaster dark brown. The moth is found pretty 

 continuously from June to September, having a rather protracted period of emergence, while a few larvae of 

 the oITspring of the early moths feed up rapidly, preducing a partial second brood. Common almost throughout 

 Europe with the exception of the extreme north and of some parts of Spain and Portugal ; also occurs in 

 Asia Minor, Syria and Armenia. 



emarginaia. Pt. emarginata L. (= erosata Hufh. = demandata F. =^ margiriata F. = rumigerata Don. = quadri- 



punctala Don. = dimidiata Hatv.) (4g). A very distinct species in shape, forming in this respect a separate 

 section of the genus; some systematists, indeed, have accorded to it generic rank under the name of Ania 

 Steph. In all other respects, however, it seems to be a normal Ptychopoda. Fore wing with the distal margin 

 somewhat excavated between the apex and the 3'''' radial, prominent at the 3'''' radial and P' median; hind- 

 wing similar, the excavation being between the radials. Pale yellowish-brown or reddish-ochreous, variable 

 in depth of colouring; the lines darker red-brown, the inner wanting on the hindwing; both wings usually 

 also with a diffuse median shade, in the cf as a rule faint, in the ? strong and broad; both wings with 

 distinct discal dot and dark marginal line. The ? further differs from the cf in being generally smaller- 

 winged but with a much more robust body, and in having the wings still more strongly emarginate than the 



mosquensis. cf. — ab. mosquensis Hegne has both wings more strongly powdered with black scales, giving it a much 

 darker appearance, the median band strong, dark grey or blackish ; fringes also darkened. Founded on 

 several examples from Moscow. Unfortunately it is not stated whether it is confined to the ?, in which it 

 would be scarcely striking. — The egg of emarginata is a somewhat irregular oval, the surface covered with 

 a regular hexagonal reticulation; very pale reddish-brown, becoming darker in the centre and round the 

 edge as its development proceeds. The larva is rather stout, gradually tapering anteriorly; rugose, transversely 

 ribbed, the ribs less distinct on the anterior portions of the middle segments; head notched, dark brown; 

 body somewhat variable in colour, dull ochreous to olive brown; a pale mediodorsal line, finely dark-edged 

 especially on abdomen, where the edging thickens into broad dark marks, tending to become continuous on 

 the last 4 segments; middle segments with dark V-shaped markings, their points directed caudad, sometimes 

 also with V-shaped markings pointing cephalad, the resultant pattern being a series of X-marks at the 



