904 NOTODONTIDAE; GENERAL TOPICS. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
this habit it is named “myador” (“urinator”) in its patria — a verbal translation of the scientific name'of 
the species. 
The largest Notodontidae. of the Ameiican faunistic region are the Naprepa which genus contains the 
N. cyllota that look like a gigantically enlarged Lophopteryx camelina. These enormous Bombyces are very 
frequently captured on the lantern. Owing to their resemblance to a dry leaf it is almost useless to search for 
them in their hiding-place during the day. 
The transformation of the exterior of the quiescent imago into a shapeless or puzzling entity is still 
more extensive in the American Notodontidae than in the palaearctic ones, though many species of the former 
are also only adapted to their surroundings by bark-like or lichenous markings (as in Europe for instance the 
Notodonta, Dicranura, Exaereta etc.), such as the genus Heterocampa comprising hundreds of forms. In the 
palaearctic region Stauropus fagi disguises the exterior of the quiescent insect past recognition by projecting 
its very hairy tibiae and by advancing the likewise fringed costal-marginal area of the hindwing, whereas some 
neotropical Notodontidae disfigure themselves in repose by an apparently affected and uncomfortable position 
of their wings and body, to such an extent that it is utterly impossible to discover the' insects. Certain Hapigia 
keep their wings still more vertically raised in repose than, for instance, the palaearctic Pterostoma ; the distal 
margins of the forewings are closely pressed together, and beside the very sharply projecting “dorsal tooth” 
the tornus of both the forewings, being tightly folded up, also looks like anothei hump or splinter. 
These Hapigia are interesting in more than one respect. Another species, H. nodicornis Gn., exhibits 
transverse stripes similar to the ribs of a leaf, traversing the forewing in parallel rows, but in an opposite 
direction to that of nearly all other lepidoptera with a similar scheme of markings, i. e. not parallel to the 
distal margin, but vertical to it. In this way the insect, whose colour is similar to that of a rotting leaf, makes 
a picture in which the head-end of the resting lepidopteron corresponds to the tip of the leaf, not to the stalk- 
end. Somewhat allied to this genus is the genus Antaea, where the most common species, A. juturna Or., ex¬ 
hibits the veining of a leaf in the usual, normal direction, but the stripes are so much shaded with light and 
dark on both sides that they have a most strikingly plastic effect, so that even the most expert eye would 
take them to be erect layers of scales. 
The adaptation to broken off pieces of branches which we know from the palaearctic genus Phalera, 
is very common in the American faunal region and appears in various modifications. We find a light yellow 
luniform spot in the apical region of the forewing of Navarcostes limnatis Schs. which is a very rare species. 
In the neotropical region we meet much more frequently with species in which the light spot representing the 
place where the copied piece of wood is broken off is removed into the anal angle of the forewing. The lepido¬ 
ptera which are thus disfigured put their hindwings still more closely together at the margins, when at rest, 
than the European Phalera bucephala do, and usually do not sit transversely or obliquely like the latter, but 
mostly with their heads up, and appear quite narrow owing to their slender abdomen, the spectator’s eye 
being directed to the anterior surface of the thorax over which the almost nose-like prolonged palpi project 
like a broken splinter. 
Only comparatively few genera exhibit a metallic gloss, such as we notice in the palaearctic Sjoatalia 
and the Tarsolepis. Bright golden magnificent spots distinguish the fairly large species Chliara croesus Or. 
which frequently comes to the arc-lamps of the towns and of the pleasure-grounds of the Organ Mts. A very 
large reflecting silvery spot is exhibited by the smaller Notoplusia clara Or., the shape of its spot on the fore wing 
resembling that of Tarsolepis javana (Vol. X, pi. 79 a). Otherwise, there are only single metallic lines to be 
noticed, as in many Calledema ( plusia , plusioides, argenta, and other species). 
We have met a peculiarly coloured type already in the Indian Notodontidae, in which the costal area 
of the fore wing is in striking contrast with the rest of the wing. Some forms (auritractaia Air., aj finis Bothsch., 
costalis Air.) of the Eastern Asiatic Spataloides Alats. show a bright yellow costal-marginal area' standing out 
sharply against the dark brown anal-marginal half of the forewing. We also find in tropical America quite 
a similarly coloured type: Lirimiris truncata H.-Schdff., showing the same distribution of colours. Then again, 
on the other hand, a dark stripe along the costa may stand out against the otherwise light surface of the often 
silvery shimmering wings, as for instance in Lirim. lignitecta Wkr., where the costal margin of the fore wing 
looks as if it were charred. 
The above-mentioned bark-colour which, as in numerous palaearctic Notodontidae, conceals the lepido¬ 
pteron by the adaptation of its vestiture to the rimose bark of various wood-plants is extremely common. The 
names of the species xylinoides (Dicentria), lignicolor (Janassa), lignaris (Arhacia) and others, intimate this 
protective colouring, and some resting lepidoptera of this group, such as Arh. meridionalis , look like a gigantic 
projecting chip of wood. There are even species (from the genus Gisara ) that look like a piece of bark which 
has been struck by an axe, the distal surface of the wings representing the intact bark, whilst the basal areas 
represent the chip which has been laid bare by the stroke of the axe. 
