270 



EUCHOECA; DISCOLOXIA. By L. B. Prout. 



67. Genus: !Ellclioeca Hhn. 



Structural characters as in Hydrelia, hindwing with distal margin elbowed in the middle, 2"^ radial 

 vein arising well above the middle of the discocellulars. In life the wings are always erected over the back, 

 as in the Diurni, while Hydrelia shows even less disposition to assume this posture than many other Larentiids. 



Early stages similar to those of the preceding genera. 



The only known species is exclusively Palearctic. 



tiebulata. E. nebulata Scop. (= obliterata Hufn., heparata Schif., strigata Thnb. nee Scop.) (10 h, as ohliterata). 



Dull ochreous, the upper surface in fresh specimens (especially in the cf j strongly overlaid with fuscous scales 

 (except at the costal margin of forewing) which in part or altogether obliterate the markings and which at 

 least become dense in the distal area. In flown specimens those scales soon become detached and the insect 

 appears more ochreous, with fuscous transverse lines. Under surface with the lines always distinct, — Larva 

 not stoul, cylindrical with distinct segment-incisions; head slightly notched, green marked with black; bod^ 

 green with a black dorsal pattern consisting of pairs of square or oblong spots separated by a yellow dorsal 

 line and yellow incisions. On alder and more rarely birch. Pupa very short and stumpy, tapering rapidly to 

 anus, eyes, legs, etc. prominent, cremaster short and triangular; reddish brown with olive-green wing- and 

 leg-cases; hibernates. Moth in June and July, distributed in Europe except the extreme North and South and 

 the Southwest, also in Transcaucasia, S. E. Siberia and Japan. 



68. Genus: Di^COloxia Wan: 



Closely related to Venusia, of which Hampson regards it as a section. The only constant difference 

 which has yet been pointed out is that the cf antenna is ciliated, not pectinate. 

 Distribution as that of Hydrelia. 



A. Hindwingincfnormal. 



phasma. D- phasma Btlr. (J 3 m). Superficially a good deal like Hydrelia testaceata, but with the discocellulars 



biangulate, though only quite moderately, sometimes very weakly. Distal margin slightly more oblique. Ante- 

 median and postmedian lines grey, not brown, on the veins marked with stronger black teeth or dashes, 

 commonly also darkened at the wing-margins; in well marked specimens the postmedian consists of a group 

 of 4 lines, not 3 only as in testaceata. Japan, distributed. Other localities are at present doubtful. 



conisaria. D- conisaria Hmps. Much larger than phasma (size of a large Venusia cambrica), distal margin of 



hindwing sometimes slightly subcrenulate. White, irrorated with blackish, giving to the forewing and the distal 

 part ot the hindwing a grey tone, with scarcely a tinge of brown. Forewing with a curved basal line, pairs 

 of lines, ill-defined except as dark dots or teeth on the veins, and a single dentate line, arising on costa 

 midway between the antemedian and postmedian but strongly oblique and curved, thus approximated to the 

 postmedian in the later part of its course; a black discal dot and black terminal strokes; the paler areas 

 (especially that distally to the postmedian) marked with broad or narrower white streaks on the veins, which 

 become very conspicuous in dark specimens. Hindwing proximally whitish, with discal dot; distally more like 

 forewing but without black vein-dots and with uninterrupted white postmedian band. Forewing beneath ini'us- 

 cated, hindwing white with the principal lines rather strongly marked. Kashmir and S. Tibet, as well as Sikkim. 

 A weakly marked example from Koko-Nor may be a local form of the same, though the distal margin of the 

 forewing is rather more oblique. 



tchraria. D. tchraria Ob. (8 b) has about the size and colouring of conisaria, but the lines are not so conspi- 



cuously dark-marked on the veins; they are blackest from the costal margin to the subcostal vein, weakest in 

 the middle of the wing; the postmedian pair is angulated on the P' radial (as is also the case in conisaria)^ 

 while in Venusia cambrica, with which OberthQr compares it, they are here almost straight; behind the S'** 

 I'adial a second angle is formed, and here both these lines are blackened. Hindwing greyish white with 4 

 indistinct lines, which only become conspicuous at the inner margin. Forewing beneath smoky, hindwing while 

 both with a single postmedian and pair of subterminal dark lines. Ta-chien-lu. — The examples from Pu-tsu- 

 fong and Chow-pin-sa, referred here by Leech, do not agree well with Oberthur's figure and description and 

 accentuata. mnsi be at least a separate race. 1 name it accentuata subsp. nov. Forewing with sharp black discal dot, 

 the lines altogether stronger, not blackened only at costa but also at hindmargin and on the principal veins; 

 thick black vein-streaks on the P' median and especially the 3'''' radial accompany the postmedian line, nearly 

 as in cambrica, but larger. 



