130 
ACRATODES. By L. B. Prout. 
oblinataria. 
bimaculata. 
scintillans. 
fasciata. 
praepedita¬ 
ria. 
tumidaria. 
jlexifascia. 
adita. 
psecasta. 
adela. 
leda. 
delila. 
white; forewing with 2nd subcostal stalked; hindwing less rounded, though I have seen no example in which 
it is so strongly angled as in the type figure; lines typically more distinct, the postmedian very strongly sinuous. 
Only $$ known to me; very variable, unless more than one species are mixed. 
A. oblinataria Mdschl. An inconspicuous little species, perhaps separable into several subspecies, but 
I have not been able to bring together many specimens, except of scintillans. Hindtarsus of <$ longer than in 
praepeditaria; the postmedian line, when present, is similarly sinuous, but does not run out so close totermen 
behind the 3rd radial; ground-colour grey or slightly brownish, without cinnamon tone. The originals, 2 
from Porto-Rico, are white-yellow, densely irrorated with greenish-grey-yellow, entirely without markings. 
A poor $ from Jamaica apparently agrees. — ab. bimaculata ab. nov. has conspicuous brown or red-brown 
costal spots indicating the position of the (obsolete or extremely weak) median and postmedian lines. Known 
to me from Jamaica (type $), St. Vincent and Grenada. — scintillans Warr. (15 d) is a more brownish-tinged 
race, described from British Guiana, with the lines traceable throughout, though slender and weak (especially 
in the <$) and not arising from conspicuous costal spots. Specimens from Venezuela (chiefly Caracas) seem 
more variable, sometimes more strongly marked. —- ab. fasciata ab. nov. Median area of fore wing darkened 
into a conspicuous band. A good $ in the British Museum, from Caracas. The only oblinataria which I have 
seen from the Bahamas (a $ from Nassau) nearly resembles this, but may prove attachable to the name-typical 
or to a third subspecies. 
A. praepeditaria Mdschl. (= semisignata Dogn.) (15 d) more approaches the adela group, but has the 
postmedian line more distally placed and no subterminal shadings. Hindwing not so entirely devoid of mark¬ 
ings as in oblinataria and without the peculiar dense irroration. Venezuela (Dognin’s type locality) and the 
West Indies; Moschler’s type $ from Porto-Rico. —- tumidaria MdscM., also from Porto-Rico, is merely a 
less small, more weakly marked $. — flexifascia Prout (15 d) is rather large, with a well-developed narrow 
median band on the forewing, the other markings of that wing weak. Buenos Aires, 1 $; its geographical iso¬ 
lation suggests that it may possibly be an accidental introduction. 
A. adita sp. n. In colour and markings closely like a larger praepeditaria (23 mm) (15 d). Hindleg 
similar; fascicles of cilia less long; stalking of 2nd subcostal of hindwing extremely short. Distinct in the pre¬ 
sence of a (weak) subterminal shade on the hindwing and near the tornus of the forewing above and (much 
stronger) near the apex of the hindwing beneath; forewing with a black-mixed subbasal line in and behind 
the cell. From delila easily separated by its paler colour, more distally placed postmedian, underside only rosy 
at costa of forewing, etc.; in that species the subapical spot beneath is rosy, not fuscous. Orosi, Costa Rica 
(A. H. Fassl), 1 J in the British Museum. 
A. psecasta sp. n. (15 d). Head red-brown. Hindfemur with strong tuft of purple-red hair; tibial pencil 
long, tarsus rather long. Forewing with 2nd subcostal from cell; base, costa, termen and the long cell-mark 
purplish grey, the rest whitish, with grey veins and dense coarse orange-brown strigulae, composing about 12 
or 13 irregular interrupted lines; of the lines the antemedian and median are straight, the postmedian irregularly 
sinuous. Hindwing more weakly marked. Underside paler, glossy, the postmedian present, rather weak. Matto 
Grosso: Burity, 30 miles N. E. of Cuvaba, 2250 feet, 30 June 1927, at light (C. L. Collenette), 1 in the 
British Museum. 
A. adela Dogn. (15 d). The most widely distributed of the group. The differentiation of the nearest 
allies is given under their headings; it and the two following show a slight structural difference from most of 
the preceding in that the 2nd subcostal of the hindwing is not or not appreciably stalked. The type was from 
Loja; the already known range is from Costa Rica to Bolivia in the west and from Trinidad to Rio Janeiro 
in the east. — leda subsp. (? sp.) nov. is probably a race of this species, or possibly of delila. Colouring a little 
deeper, the red shading predominating. Forewing with proximal area nearly as in typical adela; postmedian 
line commencing about as in that, the angle at 1st radial not so acute as in delila, the inward curve between 
it and the central lobe pronounced, the lobe (with corners on 3rd radial and 1st median) not quite so near the 
termen as in adela; the white line outside the postmedian slight and indefinite, the brown cloudings in distal 
area rather dark and suffused with reddish, the whitish apical patch conspicuous; terminal line replaced 
by a weak grey shade; the brown proximal part of the fringe deepened and reddened. Hindwing more uniformly 
reddish than in a. adela, the white lines —- especially the postmedian — weakened, the light-brown sub- 
terminal band deepened and reddened; termen and fringe as on forewing. S. Brazil: Santa Catharina, a $ 
from the Oberthur collection. 
A. delila Scliaus (15 d). Rather less strongly glossy; redder, the median area broader, etc. Honduras 
to Panama (type from Costa Rica); also in French Guiana. 
A. pulida Dogn. (15 e). Generally considerably larger than the two preceding; colour a more purple- 
pulida. 
