II 
PREFACE. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
colours, mostly arranged in spots or seniibands on velvety-black ground adorned with metallic hues. This 
colour-scheme which we fuid among the other groups {RJwpalocera, Pericopiinae etc.) most largely developed 
hi Tropical America, finds in Africa no other analogy, and does not seem to fit in at all with the more severe 
general character of colours and forms prevailmg in that Region, a fact to which we wish to draw especial 
attention. 
The Acronyctinae s. s., headed by the genus Acronicta which in Europe and North America finds 
its greatest development, have but few representatives in Ethiopian Africa. Possibly further search will reveal 
m the Congo Region the existance of some further species of green Noctuids copying lichens such as Daseochaeta 
verbenata Dist., but it is doubtful ivliether these really should be placed near Diphthera, since their caterpillars 
have in probability a smooth skm. The fact that of the much more than 100 known species of Acronicta, 
some of which count in North Africa among the commonest Lepidoptera, not one is found in the Ethiopian 
Region, confuTiis what ive have said above of the geographical limits peculiar to that Continent. 
The Metachrostinae, of which comparatively few species are known, and those widely and irregularly 
dispersed over the globe, are represented in Etheopian Africa by a few isolated species; but their distri¬ 
bution and the relative rarity of all of these species, especially also Bryophila, even in those places where they 
are weU represented, seem to indicate that our present knowledge of this group is very deficient, and it is 
easily possible that a more thorough search of those parts of Central Africa where Lichens abound, will re¬ 
veal many more species of Lichen-moths. 
Among the Euxoinae we notice in Tropical Africa especially the almost complete absence of the lar¬ 
gest genera, such as Euxoa, Rhyacia, Feltia etc. Also here we have a group which in the Palaearctic North- 
African Region plays a most important part, both on account of the great number of species as of indi¬ 
viduals ; to illustrate this I only wish here to point out the fact that in Algeria in a smgle evening, besides 
300 Euxoa polybella, 100 other Euxoinae came to the lamp. In Tropical Africa our ,,Agrotis“ is replaced by 
Laphygma and Spodoptera. of the Prodenia Group, both of which occur often in such immense numbers, 
that the caterpillars do enormous damage. The nearest ally of Rhyacia is Lycophotia, of which in South 
Africa and Madagascar a few species occur. 
The group of Hadeninae is rather better represented than the preceding ones; for even though 
Polia and Aplecta which in North Africa are very numerous, have but few species in Tropical Africa, we 
fmd in their place some other, closely allied genera, such as Cirphio, Borolia, Aleliana etc., containing a great 
many forms Avhich, however, are on the average rather smaller and less conspicuous than the often cpiite respec¬ 
table northern Hadena. 
Of the C'ucullianae, represented upon the whole Earth by about 800 forms, we find in Etheopian Africa 
but a limited number of rather large species, which do not differ very much from the European, Asiatic and 
Nearctic Cucullia. On the other hand our so-called Xylinae (Antitype) are altogether wantmg, as is also 
Cosmia vdiich v'e still find in North Africa. 
The Amphipyrinae consist likeivise of very vividly marked species, whose bark-like colouring indicates 
their hiding-places to be tree-trunks and the cracks between the bark; the Ethiopian Region offering such to 
but a limited extent, there exist here of the nearly 1000 known species but very few indeed, all of which are 
among the least conspicuous of the entire group; only of the Eernmoths {Eriojms) which are distributed over the 
entire Earth, about half a dozen of species occur in Africa, among them the largest known species. But other 
genera such as Calamia, Acrapex, Sesamia, the caterpillars of which live on sedge-grass, are fairly well repre¬ 
sented, and the genus Mazuga, characterized by its hieroglyphic markings, is cpiite typical for Africa. 
With the groups of Heliothidinae and their close allies, the Melicleptriinae, we enter upon the helio- 
phile Noctuids, which fly in day-time in bright sunshine and may for that reason be expected to find the most 
favourable conditions m the .sunny Ethiojiian Region. Beside the almost cosmopolitan Heliothis, it is especially 
the smaller Timora of which the greater number of the 40 .species hitherto known occurs in Africa. Also the 
other smaller genera as f. i. Ragimva have their greatest development on that continent. 
The Erastrianae of which far more than 2000 species are known, ranging over all the hotter parts 
of the globe, are represented in the Ethiopian Region by a very great number of mostly small, but gaudily- 
coloured forms. Esjiecially on the prairies of the Central Plateau, on the South African Steppe until far into 
the scrubby forest, and even in the Kalahari Desert, we find these lovely insects flying in the high grass, 
alightmg on the blades with their head downwards, or timidly hiding under clods of earth. Corgatha, 
Etiblemma and above all Tarache display in Tropical Africa their loveliest forms, and, as the Teracolus lead 
among the Dhirna, thus we ob.serve the great number of Erastianae (f. i. Ozarba) supersede in many localities 
all other Heterocera. 
The probably not cpiite homogeneous group of Sarrhothrvpinae has in Africa a far greater distribution 
than in the northern temperate zone. Of nearly 300 known forms many genera belong almost entirely {Bryo- 
pliilopsis, Pardasena), others largely (Characoma) to the Ethiopian Region; also the typical genus Sarrhothri- 
pus is represented. Eligma laetepicta is a typical African species, which in recent years has frecpiently 
come to Europe and which, on account of its colour-resemblance to certain Eusemia or Chalcosia, 
