MEGALOPYGE. By Walter Hopp. 
1093 
abdomen somewhat darker. Legs black, partly intermixed with white hairs. Cocoon reddish yellow. Chiri- 
quibamba near Loja, South Ecuador. $ unknown. 
M. hyalina Schs. <^(162 a) has likewise almost hyaline wings. Forewing with a black costa and a scantily 
black-haired basal area. Hindwing with longer black hair on the inner-marginal area. Vertex and collar ochreous, 
abdomen black with an ochreous anal tuft. Legs dark brown. 9 blackish, thinly scaled with whitish markings : 
a large spot occupying the end of the cell, a broad band from the costa near the apex to the angle of the inner 
margin. Head, thorax, abdomen dark brown, anal ball dingy yellowish. The 9 thus reminds us of forms of 
the undulata- group. Larva, according to Zikan, fox-coloured, cocoon black. South-Eastern Brazil. 
Xanthopasa- group. 
A group containing few species but many forms, partly composed of local races, partly of individual 
variations. Variable is particularly the size of the individual insects, the gradual development of brown pig¬ 
ments and white markings, and also the width of the forewings producing specimens with broad and narrow 
wings. Similar conditions have already been observed in the TVosunae-species which are strictly confined in 
sexually morphological respect. Beside the species and forms described, most of which are figured, there are 
cjuite a number of such that are not denominated. We divide the group into two series, the first of which, 
the opercularis- series, shows the white basal spot of the forewing indistinct, strigiform or undeveloped, while 
it is roundish and more distinctly developed in the second, the defolicita- series. The white hairs of these Mega- 
lopyg e-species, however, fall off easily. 
Opercularis- series. 
* 
M. opercularis Abb. & Sm. (= Pimela lanuginosa Clem.) (162 b) lives in the Southern United States, 
but it is hardly separable from the Mexican — ornata Drc., as both are variable in size and colouring, forming 
transitions. On an average, the white submarginal row of spots on the forewing may be more rarely developed 
in opercularis than in ornata. The latter occurs also in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama, where it passes 
over to —- briseis Dyar (162 b) which is typically described as a somewhat larger, darker pigmented species 
from Venezuela; it likewise often shows the submarginal row of white spots on the fore wing. Slighter differences 
of tints are met with in the Guianas, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Some of them have been deno¬ 
minated: — govana Schs. (162 b) from French Guiana, — incachara Schs. (162 b) from Bolivia, and — - albizona 
Dogn. from the Amazons. The latter which is very closely allied to govana shows a more extensive white marking 
on the wings. Especially the thorax exhibits a broad white belt at the base, and the abdomen a white anal 
tuft; the forewing is white in the cell, below the media and at the base of the veins, and a white postmedian 
line crosses the wing. Moreover, there are still whiter coloured specimens at hand from Peru, exhibiting an 
entirely white thorax and an almost white abdomen. —■ An ornata- or briseis- form with narrower, slightly 
prolonged forewings is —- costaricensis Schs. (162 b) occurring not only in Costa Rica but also elsewhere, 
e. g. in Panama and South Colombia. — Another variety of opercularis or ornata has been named —• 
bissesa Dyar (162 c), typically in Arizona and Mexico; it differs in the more distinctly defined, broader, light 
yellow distal margin of the forewing, but there are transitions to the nomenclatural form. Also briseis varies 
similarly, exhibiting forms with a light yellow margin from Venezuela, Guiana and Para. 
M. amita Schs. (162 c) is the southern representative of the opercularis- series and probably to be regarded 
as a distinct species, but it is likewise subject to considerable variations. The white marking of the forewing 
is sometimes very distinct, the lemon colour of the body passes over into brown: — - victoriana Schs., and indi¬ 
vidual specimens occur, which represent distinct transitions to certain forms of M. undulata. South Brazil, 
Argentina. 
M. amitina Dogn. is not at hand. The A is covered with blackish-grey curled hair on % of the forewing, 
the distal-marginal area and the fringe being yellow. Hindwing pale yellow. Head, thorax and abdomen yellow, 
legs black. Trujillo, Peru. 
M. chrysocoma H.-Sch. (= aricia Schs.) (162 c). The $ has dark brown wings with scanty hair; the 
costa of the forewing, especially before the cell-end, is blackish, an indistinct whitish spot is at the cell-end. 
Body ochreous, a stripe of dark brown hairs directly before the yellow anal tuft. The 9 has a yellowish ground¬ 
colour of the wings, suffused with dark greyish brown. Venezuela. 
M. megalopygae Schs. Vertex lemon-coloured, thorax olive brown, abdomen above dark brown, sub- 
dorsallv with a basal lemon-coloured tuft. Forewing dark grey, with long curled hair turning olive yellow along 
the proximal and distal margins. Hindwing dark grey, the distal margin and fringe narrowly olive yellow. 
French Guiana. 
hyalina. 
opercularis. 
ornata. 
briseis. 
govana. 
incachara. 
albizona. 
costaricen¬ 
sis. 
bissesa. 
amita. 
victoriana. 
amitina. 
chrysocoma. 
megalopy- 
gac. 
