AGARTSTID^. 515 



Family AGARISTID^. 



Proboscis fully developed; palpi upturned and well developed, 

 the 3rd joint usually naked and porrect ; frons with a rounded, 

 conical, or corneous process ; antennae cylindrical, almost simple, 

 with slight bristles at the joints, not ciliated, and more or less dis- 

 tinctly dilated towards extremity. Ocelli present ; eyes sometimes 

 hairy; tibial spurs well developed, the tibiae rarely spined; the 

 male claspers often very large ; wings large and strongly formed. 

 Fore wing with vein 1 a separate from Ih ; 1 c absent ; 5 from or 

 from close to angle of cell ; the areole present in nearly all the 

 genera. Hind wing with vein 1 a present ; 1 c absent ; 5 obso- 

 lescent from angle of discocellulars except in FJeta, which has it 

 from just below the angle ; 6,7 from upper angle or shortly stalked ; 

 8 free at base, then bent downwards to anastomose with the cell at a 

 point only, except in Pseudospiris where it anastomoses with the cell 

 to beyond middle. All the species have silvery blue patches of 

 scales on the fore wing, except Asteropetes, Arrotliia^ Euscliirro- 

 pterus luallceri^ and a few other species. 



The Agaristidce are a development from the subfamily Caradri- 

 nince of the Noctuidce, in which they are closely related to Eadryas, 

 Ovios, Rhosus, Aueula, and from which they only differ in the form 

 of the antennae, which seems to be correlated with their day-flying 

 habits. The genus Dahlia, Pag., from N. Guinea, closely allied to 

 Thermesia, has however also developed an antenna dilated towards 

 the extremity and formed as in the Hesperiadce^ but ciliated ; in it 

 vein 5 of the hind wing is fully developed from just below the angle of 

 discocellulars. 



The larvae have all the prolegs present ; somite 11 enlarged ; the 

 tubercles as in the Noctuidce, low, conoidal, smooth, each bearing 

 a single hair; tubercle iv. small, rather behind and below the 

 spiracle, no other hairs ; tubercle i. anterior, subdorsal ; ii. posterior, 

 more nearly lateral; iii. lateral, above spiracle: iv. stigmatal, 

 posterior ; v. anterior and vi, posterior, inferior, subventral ; vii. as 

 three setae in a triangle on the leg-plate ; viii. near medioventral 

 line. 



The pupa naked. 



2l 2 



