248 ZOOLOGISCHE MEDEDEELINGEN — DEEL I. 



XVIII. — A NEW HEPIALID FROM SUMATRA. 

 BY R. VAN EECKE. — (with plate X). 



The Leiden Museum of Natural History has received a gigantic He- 

 pialid, sent over by Mr. P. 0. Stolz from Soerian (distr. Alahan Pan- 

 djang, W. Sum.). As far as I can find in literature, it was till now 

 unknown that in Sumatra such insects are living. In the East-Indian 

 Archipelago Hepialidae are known from Borneo, Java and Amboina, from 

 the Aroe islands and from New-Guinea. Java is inhabited by representa- 

 tives of three genera: Palpifer Hamps., Hepialiscus Hamps. and Phassus 

 Moore. Their species are not numerous. Mr. P. C. T. Snellen recorded 

 in the ,, Tijdschrift voor Entomologie", vol. XLIII, pp. 29 — 33 the fol- 

 lowing species : Palpifer sordida Snell., Hepialiscus marcidm Burl., Phassus 

 damor Moore and Phassus signifer Walk. From Borneo is only known 

 Phassus signifer Walk. ; from Amboina are recorded Hepialus rosatus 

 Pag. and Hepialus tegulatus Pag. On the Aroe islands Casana trichiloides 

 Walk, has been captured. No sooner had we come into New-Guinea, than 

 the number of the Hepialidae begins to rise, till we have reached the 

 Australian regions, where the maximum of species is to be found. These 

 communications are drawn from the „Lepidopterorum Catalogus" by 

 Aurivillius and Wagner, part 4, 1911. 



Returning to the Hepialidae from Sumatra I must mention moreover 

 two specimens of Phassus damor Moore in the collection of Messrs. Pie- 

 pers and Snellen. For the determination of these species I have used : 

 List Spec. Lep. Ins. Coll. Brit. Mus. by F. Walker, 1856; Cat. Lep. 

 Ins. Mus. E. I. C. by Th. Horsfield and Moore, 1858—1859; Faun. Brit. 

 Ind. by G. F. Hampson, 1892, and the above cited memoir by Mr. 

 Snellen. Judging from these works the specimen collected by Mr. Stolz 

 must belong to a new species, which I propose to name: 



Phassus niger mihi. 



cf. Exp. alar. 140 mm. Head, thorax, abdomen and ground-colour 

 of the wings very dark red-brown, nearly black on the discal part of the 

 hind wings. Fore wing with a yellowish white mark in the cell at the 

 upper end and along the upper discocellularis. At a distance of 10 mm. 

 from the outer margin and paralell with it, an undulated series of very 

 small yellowish spots may be observed, which spots are irregularly placed 

 between the nervules from the apex to the end of vein 2. The anal part 

 of the fore wing and two vertical cross-bands are polished and seem to 



