MELANTHIA. By L. B. Prout. 
291 
E. triphragma Meyr. (= siris Hawthorne) (28 1). Erratic in shape, but provisionally retained in this triphragma. 
genus. The markings are also characteristic and apparently very constant. New Zealand, the type from Blen¬ 
heim; the recorded localities are Cape Terawhiti (near Wellington) and on the Otago Peninsula. 
E. expolita Philpott (28 1). Near triphragma, including the irregular shape. “30 mm. Whitish-grey with exyoliia. 
faint purplish tinge; markings dark purplish-fuscous; basal line thick, evenly curved, projecting angularly in 
middle”; antemedian nearly as in triphagma; postmedian “from % costa to % d o r s u m [hindmargin], 
with strong broad a p i c a 11 y indented projection at middle; an oblique fascia from 
apex”. Hindwing with basal half darkened, limited by a median fascia parallel with termen. (Abridged from 
Philpott.) Broken River, Canterbury, New Zealand, 7 or 8 $$. Eater found on Mount Grey. 
27. Genus: Melantliia Dup. 
(See Vol. 4, p. 253; Suppl.-Vol. 4, p. 157.) 
Venation and some other characters much as in Euphyia, but I have long been convinced that its real 
affinities are with Horisme or in any case with the Eupitheciid tribe of the Larentiinae. Face rounded-prominent. 
Palpus short. Antenna simple. Thorax with double, glossy posterior crest; abdomen with rudimentary crests. 
Genitalia of the <$ with labides developed, 7th segment without coremata. Essentially Palaearctic. A few little- 
known Himalayan and Chinese forms are tentatively placed here, but the typical species (or super species), 
procellata Schiff., has also Indo-Australian representatives. 
M. procellata Schiff. (Vol. 4, pi. 10 c, as procellaria) szechuanensis Wehrli (Suppl.-Vol. 4, pi. 14 b) . Larger szechuanen- 
than p. inquinata (Japan) and clathrata, purer white, costal spot larger, at the costa broader, postmedian band sls ‘ 
warm brown, rarely whitish, the white median area for the most part weakly marked, much more weakly than 
in clathrata , the brownish-ochreous distal area enclosing 2 isolated white spots. W. China. catenaria Moore catenaria. 
(28 1). Sexual dimorphism pronounced. White ground-colour very pure, particularly in the §; ferruginous sub¬ 
costal vein very conspicuous; lines in median area variable, never so massed as in clathrata , in the $ obsolescent; 
spots on hindmargin well developed, at least the antemedian; postmedian white band broad, only in the $ 
suffused; borders in the $ not very broad, but of a very bright rust-colour; a strong white blotch at tornus. 
Hindwing white, strongly marked only at innermargi n a 1 a n d tornal are a. Abdomen dorsally 
fuscous, the black dots traceable. Sikkim. — clathrata Warr. (28 1). Probably a further race of procellata but clathrata. 
its general constancy and considerable difference from catenaria make this somewhat uncertain. Sexual 
dimorphism rather strong. White ground-colour rarely very pure (I have only seen it so in a few $$); ferruginous 
colour on subcostal vein obsolete; lines in median area in the <$ very strong, largely connected on the veins, 
even in the $ sometimes fairly conspicuous; spots on hindmargin generally well developed, at least the ante¬ 
median; border, except in a few broad, bright rust-colour, connected by some suffusion with the median 
half-band, the spots on it bluish- white, the tornal one well developed, though variable in size. Hindwing 
and underside partly or wholly suffused, in the d strongly lined, nearly as in the Japanese inquinata Btlr. Ab¬ 
domen with distinct black dorsal dots. Khasis. — mesozona subsp. nov. Hindwing and underside, besides distal mesozona. 
area of forewing, closely as in p. clathrata, from which, indeed, some white $$ can hardly be distinguished; 
forewing in most dd and in some $$ with the median area almost solidly darkened. Formosa: Kanshirei (the 
type series), Arisan, Rantaizan, etc.; type in British Museum. - Occasional aberrations in this species assume 
the characters of some other race. Perhaps ab. infumata Rbl. (see Vol. 4, p. 253, on p. procellata) can furnish infumata. 
a nom. coll, for the inquinata- like aberrations which can develop among catenaria (e. g. a Darjiling $ in the Tring 
Museum). Conversely I have seen 1 or 2 $ clathrata with very white hindwing, almost like catenaria. 
M. exserens Wehrli (Suppl.-Vol. 4, pi. 14 e). Likewise related to procellata, but deviating so strongly in exserem. 
colour and markings that it must be treated as a species. Upperside with the dark parts uniform dark grey- 
brown, not ochreous, the light bands glossy white; basal patch larger than in the allies, a ngled; the suc¬ 
ceeding white band broad; the large midcostal spot very broad, quadrate, posteriorly irregularly concave, cost-ally 
with some small white spots; posterior part of median area heavily lined; distal margin of m e d i a n 
area very characteristic, with 2 sharp teeth in the middle p r o j e c t i n g d i s t a d. 
W. China: Siao-lu and Ta-tsien-lu. 
M. postalbaria Leech (Vol. 4, pi. 13 n). Much more glossy than procellata, forewing predominantly dark, postaTbaria. 
subterminal line reduced to a few dots, the one behind the 3rd radial the best developed, the hindwing glossy 
white, with some posterior shading and incomplete lines. Central and West China, type from Pu-tsu-fong. 
M. dentistrigafa Warr. (29 a). Strongly glossy, the dark forewing somewhat brightened by a narrow dentistrigata. 
ferruginous shade proximally to the subterminal and a similar shade close to the base; the very strong outward 
curve of the anterior part of the antemedian lines also very characteristic. Founded on a few from Tonglo, 
