270 
NYCTEMERA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
liorites. 
quaterna¬ 
rium . 
sexmacula¬ 
ta. 
consobrina. 
latemargi- 
nata. 
quadrigut- 
tata. 
kondekum. 
annulata. 
arnica, 
secundaria. 
lacticinia. 
baulus. 
white, with a broad black margin. From the New Hebrids and Salomon Islands, from Treasury Island and 
New Georgia. - — horites Druce, likewise from the Salomons, seems to be founded upon a specimen more scantily 
spotted white and, according to Swinhoe, it is identical with extendens. Not rare; the figured specimen from 
the Shortland Island. 
N. quaternarium Pag. (29 g) has still more scantily spotted forewings than horites, only 1 spot below 
the cell and 3 before the apex. Hindwing blackish-brown, with a large, white discal spot. Abdomen black, 
finely curled white. Described according to a $ from New Pomerania. 
N. sexmaculata Btlr. (= aolaensis Druce). (Thefigure denoted as ,,sexmaculata'' i on t. 29 h represents 
a quadriguttata). Similar to quaternarium and perhaps belonging to it, but the forewing of sexmaculata exhibits 
a large, white cell-end spot parted by the median, and in the middle of the forewing there are 2 white larger 
spots above each other. Salomons Islands. 
N. consobrina Hpffr. is like the preceding a species with a very broad marginal band of the hindwing, 
but with a tooth projecting at the lower median vein, whilst in sexmaculata the whole proximal border of the 
marginal band of the hindwing is irregularly notched. The oblique band of the forewing is broad, distally convex 
and dentate, proximally at the median with a pointed excision. From the base of the forewing extends a broad, 
white wedge-shaped band; size of the preceding. Described from Celebes. The form is very doubtful and each 
author was of a different opinion about it, one placing it near inconstans (Pagenstecher), the other considering 
it to be identical with inconstans or latistriga (Swinhoe). 
N. latemarginata Pag. (29 h). I figure the type from my collection. Forewing with a shortened 
discal band, hindwing with an oval, Avhjte discal spot. The thorax marked with a bright golden yellow, abdomen 
golden yellow broadly curled black. From New Guinea. 
N. quadriguttata Voll. (29 h, by mistake denoted as sexmaculata) is of a very deep black ground¬ 
colour ; the narrow band of the forewing, shortened in latemarginata, usually extends here to the costal margin, 
and on the hindwing the whole basal half and the fringes are white with a satiny lustre. Abdomen finely curled 
light yellow. From Java. — Specimens with a very much reduced band of the forewing, kondekum Sioinh., 
are considered by Pagehstecher to be identical with quadriguttata, whereas Swinhoe takes this latter species 
to be a separate species approaching more distincta. 
N. annulata Bsd. nec Whr. ( — doubleclayi Wkr.) (29 li) is quite uni-coloured blackish-brown. The 
forewing with 2 or 3 discal spots often contiguous and in the shape of a small band extending from the costa 
towards the anal angle, the hindwing with a white spot at the cell-encl. Abdomen black and curled in a 
yolk-colour. — Larva black, not long-haired, but with light tufts of stiff hair, with a red dorsal line and red 
sides, on Senecio bellidioides, scandens and vulgaris, as well as on Cineraria maritima. In warmer districts 
throughout the year. It pupates in a web intermixed with hair. Pupa lustrous black, marked yellow, yielding 
the imago after 4 to 6 weeks. The latter flies in day-time (like all the Nyctemera), mostly favouring the early 
horns of the morning. In New Zealand, everywhere common, beside some Pyrameis the most common lepidop- 
teron there. It varies considerably in the extent of the white spots, but there are always transitions, and it is 
not justified to denominate these deviations. 
N. arnica White (= annulata Wkr. nec Bsd., plagiata Guen., conica [laps.] Ky.) (29h). Like annulata, 
the bone-white band of the forewing broader, notched on the median, but not interrupted; the spot on the 
hindwing considerably larger than in the preceding. In the whole of Eastern Australia. — secundaria Luc. 
(29 i), from North Queensland, has more pointed wings, a broader discal band of the forewing and a much larger 
white spot of the hinclwing. -—• The larva of arnica lives on Senecio scandens all the year round, it is black, 
marked red, and at the sides of its head there are somewhat longer hair-pencils. The imago is extremely 
common; I often saw innumerable flying round the twigs on top of trees, strikingly resembling by their 
restless flight the swarming of the European Bupalus piniaria. They also fly in winter, are fond of visiting 
blossoms and rest in the grass, but are easily chased up. Common. 
N. lacticinia Cr. (Vol. II, t. 18 h). The typical form of this widely distributed species is presumably 
the South Chinese form I figured in Vol. II of the Macrolepidoptera. The oblique band is rather broad, but 
thickly traversed by the median and its branches, the black margin of the hindwing projects proximally in a 
tooth. Distributed over the whole of India as far as China. Ceylon-specimens have a remarkably narrow band 
of the forewing, whilst in Penang-specimens it is broader than in typical Hongkong-specimens. Abdomen 
white, posteriorly yellow. Nearly everywhere, where it occurs, the most common Nyctemerid. 
N. baulus Bsd. Of this species Boisduval has not only supplied us with an entirely insufficient 
description fitting to very many Nyctemera, but he also seems to have sent abroad very different forms under 
