CALLIDULIDAE; HERIMBA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
491 
13. Eamily: Callidulidae. 
This rather isolated family which has already been dealt with at large in Vol. II, p. 207, can up to 
this day not yet be definitely ranged. The behaviour of the imagines is entirely like that of diurnal lepidoptera, 
so that Cramer who obtained specimens without antennae, ranged them as ,,Argusjes u with the Rhopalocera. 
The names ,,lyccienoides u and ,,erycinoides“ by which single species were called by later authors, make this 
error excusable. Accordingly, they were later on placed sometimes near the Castniidae, sometimes to the 
Geometridae. Pagenstecher in his monography on them thought it to be the ,,simplest way“ to range them 
near the Agaristidae, which, however, is morphologically only commendable owing to the (very feeble) thickening 
of the antennal shaft in its distal part. Hampson considers them to be allied to the Drepanidae, which opinion 
is undoubtedly the most correct of all, although his view of dealing with both groups as the direct descendants 
of the Pyralid branch remains hypothetical. 
The Callidulidae form a very homogeneous group, if we separate the (palearctic) genus ScMstomitra. 
We have already stated (Vol. II, p. 207) the latter genus to be presumably incorrectly ranged and have joined 
its figure with the genera Nossa (= Atossa auct.) Psychostrophia and Oberthilria (Vol. II, t. 48) to which 
it seems to belong. But we do not want to pronounce here a definite decision as to its position, the less so 
since also the arrangement of these latter genera in a group with Uriana, Nyctalemon and Alcidis is not 
yet a final one. 
About 50 forms of the genuine Callidulidae are confined to South Asia and the northernmost parts 
of Australia, in the boundaries stated in Vol. II, p. 207. Their flying power is considerable, in spite of the 
delicate structure of these small imagines, and for this reason they are scarcely absent in any larger island 
of the whole South Asiatic archipelago. Particularly the Moluccas and Philippines are inhabited by a great 
number of forms, whereas the Continent (India, Indo-China, and North Australia) are less inhabited by them, 
nor have New Guinea and the Large Sunda Islands yielded as many species as would correspond to the great 
extent of these islands. 
The Callidulidae are rather small lepidoptera of a delicate structure, with a slender body, broad wings, 
rather stout legs, and generally long palpi which, however, are very easily broken off. The colouring is nearly 
in all the genera above dark brown with oblique or transverse, more rarely longitudinal orange bands. The under 
surface is in some genera exactly as above, but often also decorated with fine striae, small spots, or chain-markings. 
Head of medium size with large eyes, broad frons and long palpi. Eyes bare, not ciliated. No accessory 
eyes. Proboscis strong, rather long. Palpi with a small root-like and pad-like middle joint; the last joint is 
like a nail, of different length. Antennae plain, without bristles, behind the centre generally very slightly 
thickened. Thorax oval, beneath with rather appressed scales; legs strong, middle tibiae with 1, posterior 
tibiae with 2 pair of spurs. Abdomen slender, in the if terminates into a large, almost wing-shaped anal valve. 
The wings are distinguished by the open discal cell, as the hindwing is always without the transverse vein, 
whereas on the forewing it is hardly traceable or not at all present. 
1. Genus: Herimba Mr. 
Of this genus only 1 species is known, of about the size of a Cornelia laetifica (51 i), distinguished from 
most of the other Callidulidae by more pointed forewings, smaller hindwings, and by exhibiting not a honey- 
coloured, but a whitish and interrupted discal band of the forewing. Palpi much shorter than those of the next 
genus, the antennal shaft in its distal part not noticeably thickened. In the veins it differs from Ptero- 
decta by the absence of the areola in the forewing; the second and third subcostal veins rise close together, 
right before the upper cell-angle of the forewing. Frenulum long, retinaculum in the C proceeding from 
the subcostal of the forewing. — In the shape of the head and wings this genus very much resembles certain 
Drepanidae, for which reason we have placed it here, but the subcostal system of the forewing is different and 
lacks the areola being so common in the Drepanidae. 
