60 
STERRBA. By L. B. Prout. 
tinct, setae glandular. Feeds on vegetable debris, fresh or withered, and grows very slowly, usually hibern¬ 
ating from October to February. The mature larva is more clay-yellowish, rugose, shagreened, short and thick, 
tapering to the head. Pupa light yellowish brown, the last segments darker, the veins and wing-cases rather 
mitcscoh s. prominent. — niitescens form. nov. (6 h) is similar to the (on the upperside) least grey-irrorated forms of aqui- 
tanaria, the ground-colour somewhat more olive-tinged, the lines rosy, without dark vein-dots or costal dashes, 
all indicated, but not so sharply expressed as in rhodogrammaria, cell-dots small, fringe as in type injirmaria, 
underside strongly irrorated, weakly marked. Algeria: perhaps a race at Bone. ? Morocco. 
iineaia. S. tineata Th.-Mieg (5 k). This variable species, of which the $ was unknown when I wrote, was 
erroneously placed in the section Sterrha (Vol. 4, p. 96). Similar to infirmaria, but the genitalia show it to 
be a separate species, not merely a race. The ground-colour varies from grey to yellow-grey or violet-grey, 
densely and coarsely irrorated (especially in the $) with black, without any admixture of reddish scales, the 
lines in the $ indistinct, the antemedian more proximal than in infirmaria, the postmedian from the subcostal 
bend onward straighter. Known from the Northern Lebanon and Cyprus in addition to the original locality 
(Akbes). 
cavenacaia. S. cavenacata Chret. is described as more robust than obsoletaria , the forewing of the more prolonged 
at the apex, the lines less distinct, especially the antemedian, which is oftenest obsolete, the postmedian less 
interrupted, less (or even not at all) scalloped or marked with black dots; colour less glossy and shining. The only 
specimen I have seen (one of the originals) shows the distinction in the forewing shape, the termen of the hind¬ 
wing slightly more sinuous, the underside rather less glossy, more sharply marked, the vertex less pure white. — 
Egg a little broader than that of obsoletaria, less deeply furrowed, etc. The newly hatched larva is grey, sim¬ 
ply streaked longitudinally with reddish brown, while that of obsoletaria is light grey with transverse red- 
brown bands on the middle of the central segments. In captivity, some of the larvae from eggs laid on 20 July 
were full-fed by the end of October and yielded the imago in January, while others hibernated after the second 
moult. The adult larva is very fully described; variable in size, but distinguishable be from that of obsoletaria by 
its strong granulations, its oval dorsal spots and its broad oblique subdorsal streaks, which indicate a pattern 
pointing in the opposite direction to that of obsoletaria. Pupa darker than in that species, more strongly gra¬ 
nulated, the tip of the cremaster shorter, broader, its 6 hooked setae longer, more thickened at their base. Dis¬ 
covered at Saint-Pons de Thomieres (Herault); appears in July. 
obsolete i- S. obsoletaria Rmb. (Vol. 4, pi. 4e). I am not acquainted with any good account of the early stages of 
na ‘ this species, the doubts which were expressed in Vol. 4 (p. 119—120) as to the authenticity of the earlier descriptions 
remaining valid. It was evidently well known to Chretien and several details can be gathered from his comparison 
with those of cavenacata (see above); subdorsal pattern of the larva V-tehaped, i. e. converging towards the 
violacearia. posterior end of the segment. — ab. (? subsp.) violacearia Stgr. (5 k). We figure a $ from Huelamo, Cuenca, 
one of a series of 14 collected in August 1928 which all favour this form. Probably this is a mere chance, as 
the type-form of obsoletaria seems to be predominant in Aragon and to occur in Andalusia. Perhaps “var. 
tenellaria” Rmb. <b Bsd. (indescr.), from Andalusia was the same as violacearia, but it was never described and 
the totally different 8 copula virgulata (= strigaria) subsequently claimed the name as a synonym. Sterneck, 
judging by 7 from Sierra Alfacar (1500 m), suggests that ab. violacearia is smaller than typical obsoletaria. Struc- 
algcriensis. turally there is no difference. —- (ab.?) algeriensis B.-Balc. remains unmatched, although normal obsoletaria 
forms are common at Sebdou; I cannot agree with Culot that the latter have “less white” vertex than in 
Europe. The type of algeriensis has the postmedian slightly less bent inward costally and perhaps a trifle 
more distally placed than usual; an appreciable, though not intense, dusky distal shade is not traversed by 
any trace of a pale subterminal. 
palaestincn- S. palaestinerasis Sterneck (5k). Hindwing less perfectly rounded than in obsoletaria, being (very slightly) 
sls - emarginate between the radials. Vertex not white but concolorous with wings; collar not darkened. Wings 
and their lines slightly more tinged with reddish than in normal obsoletaria, postmedian of forewing slightly 
more oblique from costa. Structurally distinct in the slightly longer ciliation of the antenna of the <J, the strong 
hair-pencil of its hindleg, a long, slender cornutus (spine on the vesica), valve tapering at its extremity. Pa¬ 
lestine: Jerusalem and Jericho; Syria: Haifa district; Mesopotamia: Kut al Amara. 
epaphrodi- S. epaplirodita Wehrli (= serrataria Sterneck) (6 d). Antennal ciliation of the $ at least as long as dia- 
la - meter of shaft. Vertex white; collar light brownish. liindtibia moderately thickened, with hair-pencil; tarsus 
almost 1 . Easily distinguishable from the two preceding species by the longer ciliation, shorter hindtarsus 
and band-like markings. From fractilineata, which it somewhat resembles in the latter respect, the less pointed 
forewing and the rounded, not excavated margin of the hindwing at once separate it. Beyrut and Jerusalem. 
Sterneck remarks on its late date (19th August) in the latter locality. 
iroglodyta- S. troglodytaria H.-S. (6 d). The Sterrha which I identify with this (although I know it only from 
ria - Syria and Cyprus) is now tolerably familiar to me in both sexes. The wings are so decidedly narrower and whiter 
than in obsoletaria that I scarcely think Staudinger can have had the same insect before him when he proposed 
