66 
STERRHA. By L. B. Prout. 
erschojji. 
inornata. 
sibirica. 
deversaria. 
maritimata. 
anastomo- 
saria. 
amoenata. 
latefasciata. 
diluta. 
aurodiluta. 
aurata. 
aureospo- 
liata. 
griseocorsa. 
pseudaura- 
ta. 
indeviata. 
karafuto- 
nis. 
typically straw-yellow, median area of forewing grey. Ab. floridaria Pivng. occurs also in this, as in all the sou¬ 
thern races. — erschoffi Chr. According to a good series before me from N. Persia, this seems to be less variable 
than the western forms of degeneraria ; ground-colour very rarely grey, generally with a more decided ochreous 
tinge than in degeneraria ; median area of forewing always well marked, though its central part varies from 
slightly grey-mixed to solidly deep-brown. N. Syrian examples, according to Dr. Zerny, show some approxim¬ 
ation to this race. 
S. inornata Haw. Probably an older name for this is straminata Bkh., but as a very different Sterrha 
( sylvestraria Hbn.) has been so generally known as straminata I am loth to revive the name while any possible 
uncertainly remains, inornata is rare in Algeria, perhaps almost confined to the Blida Glaciers. In 1913 I wrote 
“not yet known from Asia”, but this is no longer correct; we now know — sibirica Djakonov from the Minus- 
sinsk and Altai districts and perhaps the Amur, Pekin and Tientsin. In external characters this is scarcely dis¬ 
tinguishable from European forms, especially those of Finland, though the average size is small, the wings 
throughout with a strong rosy sheen, the subterminal shades altogether wanting, the median only indicated 
(and here very weakly) on the hindwing. The <$ valve is somewhat differently shaped. Djakonov also knows 
typical inornata from Djarkent. 
S. deversaria H.-Scli. This is perhaps the maritimaria of Brttand (ex Guen. MS.), first catalogued a 
year before the appearance of Herrich-Schaeffer's description, but not intelligible until 1855, when he com¬ 
municated to Laharpe a differentiation from aversata. — maritimata Guen. (7 b) correctly diagnosed in Vol. 4 
(p. 136), was probably not exactly the same form and should, strictly speaking, be renamed, as Guenee admits 
that he had determined different forms “in lift.” We reproduce Culot’s excellent figure of Guenee's original 
$ from Bourgogne. —- ab. anastomosaria Preissecker has the antemedian and median lines of the forewing 
confluent. First mentioned from Spitz, Lower Austria; occasional at Herkulesbad, where deversaria seems 
exceptionally variable. We figure (6 f., as difjluata ab.) a fine $ from the Amanus Mountains, in which the 
antemedian and median are united into an ill-defined band, while the diffluata- band is exceptionally strong. 
The specimen is in the Tring Museum. 
S. aversata L. ab. amoenata A. Fuchs (= suaveolaria A. Fuchs). I was informed by my old friend 
Pf ngeler, who acquired the type, that this was a slight aberration of the present species and not, as published, 
a form of inornata. The Ragusa collection, from Sicily, contains only 6 aversata, of which 5 are banded, normally 
shaped and with normally shaped postmedian, while the sixth (a $) has the postmedian less bent than usual 
and shows most of the peculiarities mentioned by Fuchs, except that the fringes are not reddish. “Costa of 
forewing more, and more regularly, curved” (than in typical inornata), apex broad and fully rounded, hindwing 
quite regularly rounded. Smaller than inornata from Sicily, different in colour. Black cell-dots distinct. Very 
fine dots at base of fringe.” As this may be an “ab. loc.”,or even an overlooked species, I think it wiser not to 
unite it as yet with aurata-diluta or any other named form. — ab. latefasciata Wehrli. The diagnosis of this 
aberration (see Vol. 4, p. 417) seems to have been supplied to the authors of the “Schmetterlinge der Schweiz” 
by Dr. Wehrli, in which case he is the actual author. The same, or a closely similar, form was registered by 
Seebold (An. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., Vol. 27, p. 136) as “ab. latifasciaria Heydrch.” , but the latter, as we have 
already indicated, was synonymous with the type oi aversata. ■—- ab. diluta Hannemann. The markings obsoles¬ 
cent, the border of the band wanting. Berlin, etc. —- ab. aurodiluta Hannem. (= aurata-diluta Hannem., 
dilutata Preissecker), first described from the same source, is identical except that it has the yellowish 
ground-colour of the following series. Preissecker, who obtained specimens in breeding from aurata $$ 
(Haschberg and Spitz, Lower Austria), questions whether it ever occurs in the wild state. It certainly does. 
— ab. aurata A. Fuchs. Fuchs knew both dark-banded and non-banded forms, but his name has since been 
quite correctly applied to the former. — ab. aureospoliata Boldt (= fuchsi Dufrane) is the non-banded yellowish 
form. Boldt founded it on Taunus specimens, but it occurs in most localities. Preissecker had previously 
mentioned it as “ spoliata Stgr.-aurata" , but this is not a binomial. -— griseocorsa Schawerda, from the mountains 
of Corsica, is smaller, more grey-yellow than brown-yellow, the lines weaker, less distinct. Reisser mentions a 
with the median shade very strong, the other lines scarcely indicated. — ab. pseudaurata Schawerda, taken 
among griseocorsa, is reddish brown, slenderly marked, analogous to (but not identical with) the more gold- 
yellow and stronger-lined aurata of Central Europe. — indeviata Prout (6 f) is, so far as can be judged from a 
few specimens, scarcely variable, possibly a separate species. Ground-colour as in the palest aversata ab. remu- 
tata, median and postmedian lines on the forewing anteriorly much straighter. Algeria: Hammam Rirha (type) 
and Blida Glaciers; Tunis: Ain Lraham. Flies from the latter half of June until early August. 
S. karafutonis Matsumura is said to bear much superficial resemblance to Scojmla annubiata Stgr. (Vol. 4, 
pi. 41), but is a true Sterrha, with the 2nd subcostal of the hindwing long-stalked, hindtibia large, conically 
pointed at the end, tarsus rudimentary. Evidently belongs to the aversata group; according to the figure it 
might even be a form of inornata (Vol. 4, pi. 4 g). Pale testaceous with the 3 lines of the foreAving equally 
developed, its cell-dot \i r eak or wanting; marginal “band" (? line) fuscous, obsolete near the apex. Hindwing 
Avith the postmedian excurved at the furcation of veins 6 and 7. Saghalien, common in July and August. 
