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LITHOSTEGE. By L. B. Prout. 



usually arising well separate, occasionally {excelsata and staudingeri) stalked; cf with submedian wanting, 

 2"'' median running to the middle of inner margin, a membranous pocket on underside of inner margin near 

 base. The ? is in general smaller and narrower-winged than the cT. 



The earlier stages are only known in the case of two of the species and are described below in 

 connection with them. The genus is not a very extensive one, but is widely distributed. Most of the species 

 at present known inhabit Southern and Central Europe to Central Asia, but a few are found in South Africa 

 and South America. The genera Ana'itis and Chesias are perhaps scarcely more than sections of the same genus. 



farinata. L. farinata Hufn. (= ? illibata Schiff. = nivearia Hhn) (6 d). White, entirely without markings, the 



forewing with a very slight tinge of brownish or bluish grey. Forewing beneath with slightly stronger suffusion 

 in basal part. Somewhat variable in the tone of colour, which may be somewhat more brownish, but none 

 of the forms deserve naming. The early stages were first made known in 1906 by Busse, who bred it from 

 the egg. Egg elongate oval, with small pitting; colour whitish yellow. Larva dull green with 3 fine brown 

 dorsal lines and 2 strong, undulate lateral lines; anal flap brown. Pupa brown, dorsally deeply punctured, 

 cremaster with 2 diverging points. The larva accepted Sisymbrium officinale in captivity, but BiJRGER has 

 since found it in a state of nature on Berteroa incana, eating the flowers. It is fall grown about the end of 

 July. The moth appears in May and June and is very local in Central and Southern Europe, Tunis, Palestine, 

 Asia Minor and Central Asia. 



cycnaria. L, cycnaria Guen. is unknown to me and is not quoted by Staudinger in his Catalogue; perhaps the 



type, which should be in the Paris Museum, is lost. Guenee's description runs: "It is very near niveata [farinata] 

 of which it has the size and aspect. The wings are of the same white. The forewing has three lines formed 

 of some blackish atoms: the first angled in the middle of the cell; the second somewhat arcuate, wavy or 

 denticulate; the third straight, still more oblique, running from the apex to the inner angle. The hindwing 

 is white, unspotted. The tibiae are as in niveata, but the femora are a little less thickened. I do not know 

 the locahty." 



flavicornata. L, flavicornata Zell. (6 e). Almost unicolorous yellow-grey above and beneath, the hindwing very 



slightly paler than the forewing, the forewing beneath as a rule slightly infuscated except towards the margins. 

 Very similar to the least white examples of farinata, but with narrower wings, the forewing more pointed, 

 its distal margin less curved, very strongly oblique. The antennal shaft is also yellow-grey, in the palest 

 examples yellowish white. Occurs in Asia Minor, Ferghana and the Hi district and perhaps in Ti-anscaspia. — 

 odessaria. odessaria Bsd. is a darker variety or aberration from S. Russia (Odessa?) with all the wings ochreous grey. — 



suhfuscata. subfuscata Stgr., from Armenia, is a smaller race, also darkened, the forewing being fuscous grey but the 

 hindwing paler. 



griseata. L. griseata Schiff. (= ? incanata Hufn. nee L. = asinata F. = infuscata Ev. = nivearia Staint. nee Hbn.) 



(6 d). Variable in colour, usually pale grey, beaming (with rare exceptions) an oblique darker mark from the 

 apex of the forewing, though this also varies much in distinctness in different individuals; occasionally it is 

 continued nearly across the wing with moderate distinctness, but usually it becomes faint or altogether obsolete 



duplicaria. beyond the first radial. Under surface without the dark mark. — ab. duplicaria Hbn. has the forewing more 



strongly marked, the distal line being distinct right across the wing and forked at costa, while a second dark 



abafii. line is present in the middle of the wing. — ab. abafii Uhryk is a rare melanotic form, the forewing blackish 



obscuraia. with whitish central spot and whitish subterminal line. — ab. obscurata Stgr. (= odessaria H.-Sck, nee Bsd.) 

 is of a unicolorous dark grey, much darker than the type form. It is recorded from Southern Russia, Trans- 

 caucasia, etc. — Larva rather slender, flattened beneath, of uniform thickness throughout; head large and 

 rounded, ohve-green; ground-colour variable, olive-green, more yellowish green or greenish white, the spiracular 

 region always pale (in the darker forms yellowish), marked with purplish dashes. Feeds on the seed-pods ot 

 Sisymbrium sophia and Erysimum cheiranthoides in July and August. Pupa sculptured and punctured, dull 

 pale brown, wings dull green, distinctly veined, cremaster with two points. One winter, or sometimes two 

 or even three are passed in this stage. The moth appears in June, frequenting cornfields or rough fields. 

 Local in Central and Southern Europe and from Asia Minor to Ferghana. 



fissurata. ^' ^iissurata Mab. (lib) is of about the colour of farinata, dirty white to very pale yellowish grey, 



with the fringes and sometimes the hindwing purer white, but is very distinct in its much narrower wings, 

 fine dark terminal line and dark, oblique, slightly curved line from the apex of the forewing about to the 

 2°'' radial. Only known from Algeria and Tunis, first discovered at Gabes. Flies in March. 



bifissana. L. bifissana Ebl., recently described from the Jordan Valley, resembles fissurata but is darker ash-grey 



and has the oblique subapical streak forked on entering the cell. Foretibial claw short, but distinct. Wing- 

 expanse about 29 mm. 



