ANNALS 
MEDEDELINGEN 
OF THE VAN HET 
J'ransvaal «Museum. 
VOL 
Bd. 
V. 
FEBRUARY, 1915. 
No. 1 
DL. X 
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SOUTH 
AFRICAN LYMANTRIADAE. 
By A. J. T. Janse, F.E.S.L. 
This contribution is the result of my study of all the material belonging 
to this family from the collections of the Transvaal Museum,. Natal and 
Durban Museums, Messrs. E. L. Clark and E. E. Platt (Durban), and my 
own. In many cases fine series were at my disposal, and these gave me 
a fair idea of the variability of some species. 
Most of my attention has been given, however, to the structural 
characters, especially those useful for the definition of the genera. 
I do not think that up to now much study has been made of the 
genera of this family, and, as will be seen from this paper, the most peculiar 
mistakes have been made in the generic identification. 
It is also peculiar that, as far as I know, very little, if any, attention 
has been given to the process of the fore tibia, which processes are in all 
cases peculiar to the genus and often give clues to the affinity of some 
genera. I therefore figure this process in all genera, where necessary and 
possible of both sexes. The process is sometimes somewhat hidden in a 
groove of the tibia, and in such cases it has been drawn as if pulled out 
of the groove. 
The study of the palpi also has been neglected, and I often found 
the third joint missing in certain groups of genera. This was noticed in 
Orgyia antiqua by Alfred Walter in 1885, but it seems that subsequent 
authors have made no use of this character. 
The literature on the classification of the family is not very large ; 
the most important are the following : — 
Prof. Chr. Aurivillius : “ Beitraege zur Kenntnis der Insektenfauna 
von Kamerun, Lepidoptera Heterocera,” Arkiv for Zoologi, 
K. Svenska Yetenskap Akademien Bnd., II, No. 4, 1904. (This 
is perhaps the best attempt made to fix the limits of the different 
genera ; the “ key ” to the genera, pp. 62-68, has been prepared 
with great care and was very useful to me in drawing up the 
“ key 55 to the South African genera.) 
