Publ. 22. 1. 1919. 
LITHOSIINAE. General Topics. By Dr. M. Draudt. 
241 
white, brownish towards the margin; abdomen yellowish. Expanse of wings: 20 mm. Atlantic States. — The 
dark-haired larva lives on oak and pupates in a scaphoid web on the upperside of a leaf. 
C. clethrae Dyar (32 1) differs from the very similar preceding species by its more bluish-grey, clethrae. 
not brownish colouring, and somewhat more distinct marking. Hindwings darker. Expanse of wings; 20 mm. 
New York. The diaphanous white larva with irregular, grey dorsal and lateral stripes lives on Clethra atrifolia 
and pupates in a triangular web covered with bark. 
C. albirufa Schs. (32 b). Forewings white, strewn brownish, and at the costal margin and border dusted albirufa. 
red-brown, traversed by 2 very oblique lines broken up into dots; from the lower cell-angle a red-brown median 
shade runs to the proximal margin. Expanse of wings: 14 mm. French Guiana. 
C. obliquata B. & McD. Dull grey; forewing with a straight, blackish-brown antemedian line and a obliquata. 
similar posterior transverse line slightly curved round the cell-end, with dark vein-dots; before the margin 
there is a lighter undulate line, on the border black dots. Hindwings brownish-grey, towards the base lighter. 
Expanse of wings: 16 mm. Florida. 
!!. Lithosiinae. 
About 600 forms of this subfamily are known to us from America; like most of the palearctic Lithosia, 
they are mostly rather insignificant forms, being besides very rare. Whoever is not well acquainted with their 
life-history, may collect carefully in America without meeting with a single more conspicuous Lithosiina. Whilst 
in Europe particularly Oeonistis quadra and some small Lithosia in the plains, Endrosa in the alpine districts, 
are met with in greater numbers, in Eastern Asia especially the Stigmatophora, in the East Indies mostly species 
from the genera Chionaema and Miltochrista, in Australia Eutane and certain A sura resembling them exteriorly, 
and whilst in New Guinea and the Moluccas the hemochrome Chionaema of the fulvia-(liboria)- group belong 
to the characteristic insects: there occur in America chiefly blackish-yellow forms exhibiting'the very same 
orange bands as a very great number of butterflies of other families (genuine Arctianae, Geometridae, Dioptidae, 
Syntornidae etc.) do; they are lively, often diurnal, small insects resting on blossoms, but they must sometimes 
be also beaten out of the bushes and may even come to the lamp in the evening; as, for instance, the genus 
Josiodes with nearly 30 American forms, many Agylla , the Euryptidia, Cisthene etc. 
Of the American Lithosiinae scarcely 30 forms occur in the nearctic region; the whole rest is tropical 
or subtropical. It is surprising how rapidly the Lithosiinae decrease if one proceeds from the tropics towards the 
towards the polar region. Close at the tropical frontier (for instance near Rio de Janeiro) Lithosia may be taken 
by the lamp every evening, but a few degrees of latitude more to the south they disappear altogether, whereas 
in the equatorial districts they had almost become troublesome to us. In the tropics the glass of the lamp is 
sometimes covered with the snow-white Agylla- species marked with a dark inner-marginal stripe, of which 
we meet with but very rare examples in the south, and which are entirely absent in the United States. 
Like in the palearctic Lithosiinae, the greater number of the 108 American genera (i. e. 66) are mono¬ 
typical or they at most have two, often very similar forms. The reasons why the Lithosia are so very difficult 
to comprise by morphological criteria, we have mentioned in Vol. X, p. 118, where we stated the fact that in 
the Indian fauna the inclination applicable for the whole subfamily of separating an uncommonly great part 
of the species also with respect to the genus, is distinctly exhibited. About 150 genera have been established 
for the Indian Lithosiinae numbering about 1000 forms, so that, on an average, only 7 to 8 forms fall to each 
genus. About the same proportion is found in the American forms, about 600, with more than 100 genera. We 
may infer therefrom that the Lithosia-sipecies have been more extensively specialized than most of the other 
groups of butterflies, and that the judgment of the value of their generic characteristica has not jmt found 
the right criteria for their systematization. As we have already elsewhere pointed out, the venation appears 
to be often influenced by scent-spots or other, evidently secondary formations, so that the deviations of the 
veins may not be considered to be of the phylogenetic importance it usually has in other groups. The names 
of the genera Paragylla, Neagylla, Paratalara , Epitalara, Neothyone, P xramulona, Neomulonx etc. already 
show that their mostly single species do not deviate too far from the Talara, Mulona, Thyone etc. 
This explains also why the few genera counting more, than a dozen forms mostly comprise an uncom¬ 
monly large number of species, the Afrida with 30, the Illice with almost 60, the Agylla even with 76 exclusively 
American forms. 
As to the characterization of the subfamily vide Vol. II, p. 50; in Vol. X, p. 118 to 120, it is supple¬ 
mented. To the biological statements made there we may add yet, that in the American fauna we find the 
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