NOLINAE; NOLA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
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quadra to occur occasionally in enormous numbers. The species of Nolinae are almost without exception 
quite rare, and I remember having observed in districts with a great number of species, even during weeks 
of industrious collecting, hardly one specimen of this subfamily. 
The number of species of Arctiidae that have been observed in the Indo-Australian Region, is more than one 
thousand, of which the Cocytiae are entirely, ILypsinae almost quite limited to that Region. Also the Nycte- 
merinae are almost only found in Indo-Australia, although there exist a few forms in Africa, whereas the 
Arctiinae, Lithosiinae and Nolinae are pretty regularly distributed over all the countries of the globe which 
have not too severe a climate. 
I. Subfamily: Nolinae. 
While referring the reader to what has been said about this group in Vol. 2, p. 44, we may add 
that there are in the Indo-Australian Region almost twice the number of species as in the Palaearctic, about 
100 being known which neither in size nor colouring greatly differ from their northern allies. Many of them 
are very scarce, and there are hut few regions upon the earth where one or the other species may he 
sufficiently numerous to be met with every day. In the Indian Region Ceylon seems to contain the greatest 
number and in the Australian Subregion the South-East, at least as far as we know, for but few are so far 
known from North Australia and New Guinea. Hampson has in his Catalogue given an exact and systematic 
treatise of this group, and many of our figures were taken therefrom. An umber of figures was made directly 
from the types in the British Museum. 
The Nolinae are distinguished from their close allies, the subfamily of Lithosiinae, principally by the 
presence of velvety ridges and tufts of raised scales upon the forewings, for the most part in three places 
namely in the cell, at and before its apex. The larvae do not feed on lichens, as far as known, but on leaves 
which they often gnaw in such a characteristic manner that they are easily traced thereby. Most curious is 
the manner of moulting of many species; during this process the shell of the head is not completely, 
cast off, but merely raised by the long hairbushes above the vertex. As this happens during each moult, 
the full-grown larva presents a curious appearance carrying about 3—4 skulls one above the other, decreasing 
in size upwards, and each one connected with the next by a tuft of hair. After the last moult it forms a 
boat-shaped cocoon, from which the imago emerges after about 3—4 weeks. The caterpillars are pretty 
sensitive and not easy to rear; they sit mostly on the under surface of the leaves, eating the epidermis in 
such a way that only the stratum of the leaf remains. 
Hardly anything was known of the Exotic Nolinae until the beginning of our century. In his short 
Revision Snellen counted in 1874 altogether 24 species, Palaearctic included. In Hampson’s Catalogue in which 
over 30 new species were described, there appear 162 species; it forms the basis of the texte as well as of 
the illustrations of our present treatise. To-day we know in the Indo-Australian Region nearly 100 forms, 
and about the equal number in other Regions. It is to be expected, considering the great rarity of most 
species, that a number of new forms be still discovered, and above all a close examination of the larger 
collections of Exotic Micros will probably give good results, considering the deceptive appearance of most Nolinae. 
It still remains to be stated, that the Indo-Australian Nolinae belong almost exclusively to the same 
genera as their Palaearctic and American allies. 
It may easily be understood that Africa, with its comparative poverty in deciduous trees and lichens, 
harbours but few Nolinae. 
1. Genus: Nola Leach. 
Of the almost 50 forms of this genus which are to-day known, 34 species live in the Indo-Australian 
Region, comprising many of the larger species. A general diagnosis was given in Vol. 2, p. 44. 
