206 PEODENIA; SPODOPTEEA. By W. Warren. 



agrotina. A. agrotina Stgr. (48 c) Forewing ochreous whitish, with redbrown dusting and suffusion, except the 



terminal area beyond subterminal line; inner and outer lines indistinct; the former oblique and waved, 

 marked by slight dark spots below costa and cell, the latter denticulate; the subterminal defined only by 

 the darker tint before it; claviform stigma obsolete; orbicular a faint blackish dot; the reniform diffusely 

 blackish; fringe yellowish white,, with small dark dots along base; hindwing pure white; — in the form 



jordana. jordana Sigr., from Palestine, the reniform is all but obsolete, while the inner and outer lines are strongly 

 expressed, black, starting from conspicuous costal spots. Confined to Western Asia; Armenia, Asia Minor, 

 and Palestine. • 



6S. Genus : Prodenia Guen. 



Tongue well-developed; frons smooth; palpi obliquely upturned, the second segment short, broadly 

 scaled, the third small; antennae of $ ciliated; the thorax smooth, clothed with scales; the metathorax 

 only with a divided crest; basal half of dorsum crested; forewing long and narrow, the apex bluntly pro- 

 duced; the termen oblique. Larva stout, with the 5 th . and 12 th . segments swollen. A genus of stoutly 

 built species, with strong powers of flight, widely distributed throughout the tropical regions, less common 

 in temperate parts. Type Prodenia androgea Cram, from S. America. 



lilura. P. litura F. (= histrionica F., elata F,, littoralis Bsd., retina Frr., tasmanica Guen., ciligera Guen., 



testaceoides Guen., subterminalis Walk., glaucistriga Walk., declinata Walk., albisparsa Walk.) (42 i). Fore- 

 wing ochreous washed with brown, the space below the cell and the terminal area rufous-tinged; median 

 vein and bases of veins 2, 3, 4 white; inner and outer lines double, filled in with white, the inner preceded 

 by some silvery grey suffusion, before which a white line runs obliquely from subcostal vein to vein 1 ; 

 the outer met by an oblique diffuse violaceous grey streak from apex, stronger in the $ than in the $; 

 subterminal line white, followed by another fine white line before termen, outwardly black-edged; claviform 

 stigma elongate, black-edged; orbicular narrow and oblique, white, laterally black-edged and with rufous 

 centre, a whitish bar on its outer edge; reniform with its upper extremity produced to a long acute point; 

 hindwing white; the apex brownish. In the palaearctic region this species is found in Madeira and the 

 Canaries, in Egypt, in Crete, Syria, and Turkey, and in Central China and Japan. — Larva pale violet 

 brown; a subdorsal series of black lunules above narrow yellow spots; and a lateral series of purplish black 

 spots containing a white dot at centre; sublateral line white; on Lantana. 



69. Genus: Spodoptera Guen. 



Differs from Prodenia in the abdomen having a dorsal crest at base only; the species are of 

 smaller size and weaker build, with the foretibiae broadly fringed with hair on outer side. Type Spodo- 

 ptera mauritia Bsd. 



Sect. I. Antennae of $ with pedicellate fascicles of cilia, the two series of unequal length. 



pecten. S. pecten Guen. (= erica Btlr., uniformis Swinh., pectinata Hmps.) (42 f). Forewing pale luteous 



grey, tinged in parts with reddish brown; inner and outer lines double, black, the outer lunulate followed 

 by a pale line ; submarginal line pale, preceded by a dark shade containing black wedge-shaped marks ; orbicular 

 stigma oval, with dark centre and annulus; reniform more or less filled up with brown; hindwing white, 

 with the apex grey and some dark marginal marks from apex to vein 2. The $ is more uniformly 

 greyish ochreous with the lines and markings hardly darker. The species, which is common in Borneo, 

 the Malay peninsula, the Kei Islands, etc. and rarer in India and Burma, occurs also in Formosa and the 

 Loochoo Istands and is recorded from Gensan, Corea. Larva on ,,Bukoot". 



Sect. II. Antennae of $ with sessile fascicles of cilia. 



abyssinia. S. abyssinia Guen. (= cilium Guen., orbicularis Walk., praeterita Walk., insignata Walk., procedens 



Walk., infixa Walk., obliterans Walk., insulsa Walk., imperviata Walk., retrahens Walk.) (42 f). Forewing 

 luteous more or less suffused with grey, the suffusion more uniform in the §; the inner and outer lines 

 black, conversely paler-edged, the outer lunulate; submarginal line usually obscure, pale and wavy, with a 

 dark shade before it containing at its middle blackish wedge-shaped marks, which are often obscure; 

 orbicular stigma roundish, pale with a dark outline, more distinct in the grey $9; reniform of the ground 

 colour with the centre slightly darker or sometimes in the $ blackish; hindwing white, faintly brownish 

 along termen. Occurs in Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco in N. Africa, and in Syria, Asia Minor, and Pale- 

 stine in W. Asia; a common African, Indian, and island species; it may be separated from pecten Guen., 

 in the <J by the different antennae, and in the $ by the uniform grey, instead of ochreous, tint and the 

 lalebrosa. pale round orbicular stigma; — the form latebrosa Led. from Syria is much darker grey in both sexes; 



