Publ. lo. XI. 1911. HELIOCHEILUS; CHLOEIDEA. By W. Warren. 245 



Subfamily Melicleptriinse. 



The species of tin.' nexl subfamily, the Melicleptriince, arc distinguished from the Euxoinae by the 

 fore tibiae bearing curved claws (obsolete in Adisura), and being in most cases without spines, with which, 

 however, the mid and hind tibiae, as in typical Euxoinae, are beset. The eyes are large, without hairs or 

 lashes; the frohs bears, usually, a rounded prominence, often with a chitinous ridge beneath; in one genus 

 it is simply smooth, and one in the prominence is truncate: the scaling is usually smooth, rarely developing 

 into slight thoracic or abdominal tufts. The colouring is gayer and the markings more varied, as most, 

 if not all, the species fly by day in the hot sunshine, frequenting flowers for the purpose of extracting the 

 honey. The larvae also are brighter in tone, feeding exposed on the flowers and seeds of their food plants. 

 Pupation takes place in a slight cocoon on or in the ground. 



In the warmer climates, of which most of the species are natives, there are at least two broods 

 in the year; in more northern latitudes the species are single-brooded; in the palaearctic region the sub- 

 family is not an extensive one. 



1. Genus: Helioclieilus Groie. 



Frons rounded; eyes large; antennae of- <$ shortly ciliated; scaling smooth, not forming tufts; all 

 the tibiae spined, the foretibiae with the spine's along the sides only, their apex with a pair of fine claws; 

 in the forewing of the £ the costal edge is swollen at middle into a kind of gland; below it, between 

 vein 11 and the depressed subcostal, is an oval patch of unsealed membrane, which appears ribbed, and 

 in the cell a narrower and more elongated patch; the last four subcostal nervules are distorted into a 

 sinuous course. Type HeUochcilus paradoxus Grote from N. America. 



Only one species is known from Palaearctic localities. 



H. fervens Butl. (= foveolatus Stgr.) (50 i). <J Forewing redbrown, with a dark curved shade beyond fervens. 

 middle; hindwing black with ochreous outer band from costa to vein 1; $ paler, with the stigmata and 

 lines traceable: hindwing with a pale spot beyond cell; — Amurland, W. China, and Japan. — in a form 

 which occurs in \V. China, — ab. macularis ab. nov. but which is very likely specifically distinct, the macularis. 

 hindwing shows pale patches both in and below the cell, and a pale bilobed mark below middle of termen. 



2. Genus: Chloridea Westw. 



Like Heliocheilus Grote, but the forewing of the <J is normal in structure, and without hyaline 

 patches. Type Chloridea virescens F. from X. and S. America. 



C. dipsacea L. (50 i). Forewing olive ochreous or olive brown; inner and outer lines fine, dentate, dipsacea. 

 obscure; orbicular stigma annular with a dark centre; reniform large, blackish, with a broad median shade 

 below it; a dark band preceding submarginal line; hindwing with base and inner margin diffusely blackish; 

 a large black cell blotch and broad marginal border with pale bilobed patch between veins 2 and 4; 

 fringe pale. — Occurs throughout Europe and in the Canary . . Islands; in Syria, Kashmir, Turkestan, 

 Amurland, China, and Japan. — The form adaucta Btlr. (50 i) from Japan, Corea, and E.Siberia is larger adaucta. 

 and more fulvous; the underside of both wings yellow, with outer margin towards apex fulvous, and all 

 the black markings enlarged and intensified: in the ab. albida Fucks (50 i) the ground colour of both wings is albida. 

 white; the specimens from the Goorais Valley, Kashmir and those from Uralsk are all of this form; — 

 ab. canariensis ab.nov. (50 i), from the Canaries, resembling adaucta Butl. in tint, but of normal size, with shorter canariensis. 

 and broader wings, and therefore not to be referred to . maritima Grasl., is characterised by having the 

 underside of hindwing wholly dull fulvous; these wings are deep yellow above, and the large black discal 

 spot touches the broad black border. — Larva green to purple, with yellowish white dorsal and subdorsal 

 streaks; lateral line broad and pale; head yellowish green or brownish, with darker spots; — on the 

 flowers of various plants, especially Ononis and Linaria. 



C. ononis Schiff. (= septentrionalis H. Edw.) (50 k). Forewing olive-tinged ochreous; basal area, ononis. 

 a broad median, and narrower praesubmarginal band olive fuscous; submarginal line nearly straight, pale 

 ochreous; reniform stigma large, dark fuscous, edged externally by a vertical black line; inner and outer 

 lines obscure; hindwing with large black discal blotch and broad marginal border, containing a small 

 double pale mark between 2 and 4; fringe ochreous; — a smaller, darker form, ■ — ab. intensiva ab. nov. (50 k) intensiva. 

 has the black markings much developed both above and below; in the hindwing the black border coalesces 

 with the discal blotch, reducing the pale band to 2 spots, and the pale patch in the border is quite 

 small. — Throughout southern Europe; in Armenia, Central Asia, Siberia, Amurland, and China. — 

 Larva dark green, with yellowish dorsal and subdorsal lines, or reddish brown with the lines black and 



III 32 



