THALOMICRA; PORPHYRIN! A. By W. Warren. 263 



marginal line white, angled outwards on vein and dentate to termen below middle, marked externally be- 

 tween the reins by black flecks: apex and termen below it brown or grey brown; space between outer and sub- 

 marginal lines leaden grey; reniform grey, with black outline and pale centre; terminal line brown; fringe grey 

 with dark tips beyond a pale line; hindwing white, with, grey terminal half, traversed by a whitish submarginal 

 line; the ab. futilis Svrinh., described originally from India, has the forewing brownish grey in colour. Larva fuUlis. 

 pale green or rosy: head and fore feet shining black; on various trees, feeding exclusively on the eggs of hard- 

 scaled Coccidae. A widely spread species, found in S. Spain, S. France, Dalmatia, Corsica, Sicily, Algeria, Egypt, 

 Cyprus. Syria; occurring even in India and W. Africa. The perfect insect has a somewhat tortriciform 

 appearance. 



9. Genus : Thaloniiora Spul. 



Tongue aborted; second segment of palpi long; costa of hindwing anastomosing for some distance 

 with subcostal: forewing with vein 10 free, from cell, as 11. Type T. debilis Chr. 



T. debilis Chr. (52a). Forewing white; inner line straight, yellowish brown, diffusely shaded base- deUVis. 

 wards; some dark specks in terminal area; hindwing white; the ab. deleta Stgr. from Biskra, Algeria, is wholly deleta. 

 white, with the inner band narrow and subobsolete. The type is recorded from Turcomania, Armenia, and N. 

 Caucasus. 



10. Genus: Porpliyrinia Hbn. 



Tongue present ; frons smooth; palpi upcurved, the second segment somewhat rough-scaled in front, 

 the third short, pointed; antennae of ^shortly ciliated; thorax and abdomen smoothly scaled, without crests; 

 forewings elongate, costa straight, apex subacute, termen obliquely curved, the fringe deep; scaling fine and 

 glossy, the markings usually oblique: hindwings unicolorous, without markings. The imagines are small, often 

 gaily coloured, taking short flights in the sunshine; many species, if not all, double-brooded, and not common 

 outside the warmer climates of the south. Larva in spun-together shoots of various low plants, pupating in co- 

 coon among rubbish above ground. Type P. ostrina Hbn. 



P. ostrina Hbn. ( = purpurata Led.) (51 d). Forewing cream white, slightly tinged with pale brown in ostrina. 

 basal half and in terminal area; median shade diffuse, slightly outcurved, followed immediately by a black dot 

 representing the reniform stigma ; just beyond it on the costa an oblique purplish bar to vein 6 represents 

 the outer line; submarginal line whitish, sharply indented on each fold and outcurved between, the interval 

 between the two lines filled with purple except at costa beyond median line ; the interspaces between the veins 

 often streaked with deeper purple; a purple spot at apex with a blackish speck in it below; a purplish streak 

 from base below cell; terminal line brown inwardly edged with white; fringe white, brownish in middle; hind- 

 wing brownish grey, darker along termen ; terminal line dark ; fringe white ; in examples from Algeria and Morocco, 

 besides the purplish tint between the two lines, the whole forewing, except partially along costa, is suffused 

 with olive grey-brown, = ab. suffusa ab. nov. (51 d); — in aestivalis Guen. (51 d), probably the early summer suffusa. 

 brood, the purplish tint is restricted to the shade immediately before the submarginal line ; the hindwings are aestivalis. 

 paler, in the (J almost white, and the examples are smaller in expanse; — in carthami H. Sch. (= numida Luc.) carthami. 

 (51 d), supposed to be the latei summer brood, the creamy ground is faintly tinged with pale brown along the 

 median line and on each side of the submarginal, which is sometimes accompanied externally by a few iso- 

 lated black scales ; apical patch grey brown ; hindwing creamy, tinged with brown before termen; the fringe white. 

 — Larva greyish yellow, with pale yellow dorsal line, prominent at the segmental incisions, and similar sub- 

 dorsal and spiracular lines; head brown; feeding on Helichrysum and Carlina. Found throughout S. Europe 

 and sporadically in S. England and S.W. Germany; in the Canaries and Madeira, in Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt; 

 in the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus; inAsia Minor, Syria, Armenia, Turcomania, Ferghana, Issykkul, Uliassutai. 



P. porphyrina Frr. (51 d). Differs from ostrina in being chalk white, without any purple or violet tinge; porphyrins. 

 the basal streak and the median band dark brown ; the outer line on costa indicated by a short brown cloud only; 

 a brown cloud before submarginal line and brown apical streak; hindwing whitish, tinged with grey brown 

 along termen. S. E. Russia, Uralsk; Altai Mts. ; Tarbagatai Mts. 



P. parva Hbn. (= minuta, Dup., chaiybaea £iraWL, nymphodora ifeyr.) (51 d). Forewing pale ochreous, parva. 

 tinged with yellowish; the median shade preceded by brown suffusion, inwardly diffuse, outwardly concise, 

 sinuous, projecting on each fold and edged with white ; outer line brown, somewhat quadrately projecting be- 

 tween 6 and 4, edged with pale, and followed by a brown cloud ru nnin g into apex: a black dot on discocel- 

 lular ; submarginal line pale, hardly marked, containing a black speck below apex ; hindwing brownish grey, whiter 

 towards base; — the ab. rubefacta Mob. (51 e), from Corsica and Sicily, shows the basal and terminal areas rubefacta. 

 of forewing dark brown tinged With rosy; the brown median shade and its pale edging very prominent; the 

 hindwing dark; — in typical specimens the space between median and outer lines remains pale ochreous 

 or brownish; in several examples, especially $$, from Morocco, Spain, and Syria this space is finely dusted 



