74 
ORTHOLITHA. By L. B. Prottt. 
brownish, both above and beneath, than datinaria and pallidata, which have the underside pale, while here 
it is more like clavaria though brighter and with the lines straighter; median area of forewing above less dif¬ 
ferentiated in col >ur than in the warm-coloured aberrations of pallidata and scarcely dark-edged, terminal 
area nearly as in pallidata. Saisan (Zaizan), a pair in coll. Wehrli. 
feliciaria. L. feliciaria D. Luc. do J. Joan. ( = nisseni Rothsch.) (7 d). As I had no firsthand knowledge of this 
in 1914 and it was described as near chenopodiata, I referred it (Vol. 4, p. 159) to Ortholitha; the discocellulars 
of the hindwing, however, are definitely biangulate and it looks by no means out of place in the vicinity of 
clavaria , notwithstanding its smaller size and more pointed wings. Later in the same year it was accidentally 
re-described from Guelt-es-Stel, Central Algeria, as Larentia nisseni Rothsch. It is now well known, although 
it cannot be called a common or widely-distributed species. Flies in October and November. 
6. Genus: Ortholitha Hbn. 
(See Vol. 4. p. 158; Vol. 16, p. 86.) 
A. antenna bipectinate. 
seminigra. 0. coarctaria Schiff. ab. seminigra Schawerda (7 e). Both wings fuscous, with a white subterminal 
line, the forewing also with the slender, divided band outside the postmedian. Founded on a d from Modling. 
bn pi eta. the darkening perhaps more intense than in infuscata Stgr. — ab. impleta Heinrich, from Digne, has only the 
diniensis. median area of the forewing infuscated, so as to form a dark band. — ab. diniensis Culot (7 e), also from Digne, 
griseata. has this band constricted, especially in the middle, where its boundary lines are unusually curved. — ab. gri- 
seata Schawerda has the lines of the forewing almost entirely suppressed, even the two principal (the ante- 
and postmedian) weak, so that the whole wing is light-grey, with somewhat whiter subterminal. Type from 
San Quirino, Upper Italy. 
mucronata. 0. mucronata Scop, has received much attention of recent years, particularly from Dr. Heydemann, 
whose specialised studies of the ‘‘Atlantic" fauna of N. W. Europe always merit careful attention. His article 
on “Variabilitat und Rassenbildung bei Orth, mucronata”, etc., in Vol. 24 of the Internat. Ent. Zeitschr.. 
produced after some years of study and with the cooperation of many of our most prominent lepidopterists, 
disconudata. should be consulted by all who desire more than the bare outline which we are able to offer here. — ab. disco- 
nudata Dannehl. Cell-spot of forewing completely wanting. Described from S. Tyrol, a very rare individual 
nigrolineata. aberration. — ab. nigrolineata Dannehl resembles umbrifera in the dark shading which accompanies the lines, 
but the lines themselves are black-brown (without the ochreous undertone), as is also the very strongly deve- 
approxi- loped apical dash. Penegal (S. Tyrol), etc., also rare. — ab. approximata Front (7 e). We figure the type of 
luridata Serration, a <$ from Locarno in my collection. — ab. luridata Hufn. (= duponti Th.-Mieg , graslinaria 
Culot ) (7 e). We give a figure of this aberration, which in its extreme form is very rare, though approximations 
luridaria. to it are easily developed from umbrifera. —ab. luridaria Bkh. (= nigrescens CJcll., obscuraria Rothke) (14 k). 
As the name luridaria Brahm was merely an “emendation” of luridata Hufn., it is possible to argue that it 
has no better status than a misprint or misspelling and therefore to allow validity to the first legitimately 
erected luridaria , which is Borkhausen’s. Until the question has been otherwise decided, I am therefore 
willing to accept the view-point of Heydemann and others. This melanic aberration seems to occur chiefly 
in Schleswig-Holstein and the north-western islands. As indicating the beginnings of racial divergence, it is 
interesting that v. Ghika has recorded (Intern. Ent. Zeitschr., Vol. 22, p. 372) an isolated colony of dark 
mucronata occurring annually in a small, quite circumscribed track of bramble-grown heathland near Duven- 
griseoline- stedt (S. Holstein), quite different from the form found on the rest of this heath. — ab. griseolineata Priiffer 
ofa • has a dark band for the postmedian and is therefore very similar to, if not identical with, the umbrifera 
of N. W. Europe; but there is a danger of confusion if one uses the same name for a chance aberration in Central 
and Eastern Europe as for a well established modification of the British race. Pr Offer's type is from the 
genistaria. Cracow district. — gen. aest. genLtaria Dannehl, described from S. Tyrol, is smaller, dusky, the markings weak 
plumbaria. and delicate, the pale edging of the postmedian wanting. Flies from mid-August to late September. — plum- 
baria F. (7 f) is interesting as being the only differentiable subspecies in a widely distributed species. Described 
from England, Heydemann points out that its lines are stronger and darker than in name-typical mucronata , 
the subbasal of the forewing generally obsolescent in the latter, conspicuous in the former. Although oc¬ 
casional specimens from such widely separated localities as Berlin, the Pyrenees and Carniola approach it, it 
belongs essentially to the Atlantic climate region, namely N. W. Spain, part of France, Holland, Belgium, 
umbrifera. the British Isles, N. W. Germany, Denmark, S. W. Norway and S. W. Sweden. — ab. umbrifera Front (7 f) 
(Vol. 4, p. 158) is interesting as being so prevalent in Britain and especially in N. W. Germany and Jutland 
that, notwithstanding the English origin of both the types, Heydemann has found that the geographical facts can 
be best brought out by ignoring the “law of priority" and calling plumbaria an ab. of mucronata, umbrifera 
a subspecies (et ab.). A valuable statistical working-out of the prevalence of umbrifera in different parts of 
its range, with particulars as to the boundaries (southward, eastward and in Scandinavia), will be found in 
