AGARISTIDAE; XANTHOSPILOPTERYX. By IJx. K. JoEr>A>-. 
1 
1. Family: Agaristidae. 
The only reason for not classing the forms described as Ago.vistidat •with the Xootui<J.oA is that they 
have alwaj’s been treated as a separate family, being often closely connected even with the CoMniidoA and 
Zygam'i/JMe', thus the hitherto generally adopted order has been retained in the present Compendium, in which 
all fundamental changes in classification are to be avoided as far a^s possible. 
As we have stated in Yol. 3 and 11, the AgariMidae are so closeh’ connected with the trifid Xoctuids 
and shade into these so completely, that it is impossible to draw any dividing line betv-een them, and that 
their separation is an artificial and unnatural one. 
The tj^pical Agaristido.e have clubbed antennae, which have on their under surface in the place of 
scales ver}" short scent-hairs only seen under a strong magnifying-glass: their cross-section is more or less cir¬ 
cular; each segment is pirovided ■with a transverse row of bristles. Yany species have the antennae filiform or 
bristle-like, occasionally even serrate or pectinate; thus we find among African genera serrate antennae f. i. 
in Pristoceram. There are also many species in which the hair of the antennae form a distinct dovn-hke 
cover. Xor does the second characteristic of the family, the position of the 2. ratlia.l in the hindwing, 
afford am’ reliable means for separating the Aga/rhstidae from the Xoctuidae; this vein arises in the former at 
or sKghtly before the middle of the apex of the cell, being invariably hollow and cylindrical, which is the case 
also in a number of trifid Xoctuids. But there are also cases of typical AgaristidM.e known where the second 
radial arises below the middle of the apex of the cell, as f. i. in •/. hdo/ngeri. 
The majority of AgarisfAdae are day-fliers, preferring the hottest sunshine, and mostly inhabiting 
open fields in the vicinity of forests, covered with isolated shrubs; almost all of them have the upper surface 
of the fore-^^dngs adorned by metallic scales, particularly in those places where in the Xoctuids we find the reni- 
form and orbicular. Xumerous species have metallic spots near the base and on the disk: others are distin¬ 
guished by some other striking colour, especially on the hindwings which generally are brillant yellow or red 
with a black marginal border. 
In Africa Aegocera and the allied genera, especially also Xardliosfjilojjteryx. furnish the most common 
species which are alwat’s contained in collections sent from there. 
Only of a few species oi Agaristidae the earlier stages arekno'wn; the caterpillars are of brillant colour, 
particularly the head; the pronotum and a dorsal spot on the raised, last but one segment being yeUow or red; 
they pupate in or on the ground; they rarely occur in larger numbers, only a few species feeding on the grape¬ 
vine occasionally do considerable damage. For further particulars see Yol. 3, p. 3—I, and Yol. 11, p. 1—2. 
1. Genus: Xantliospilopter;Yx Wo.llgr. 
The predominating genus among the African Agaristidae. Frons of the d not nan’o-vs-ing behind, some¬ 
what produced, -with raised edge. Antennae of d $ more or less thickened distally. Palpi -with the 1. 
and 2. segments covered vith long hair, the 3rd smooth, prominent, generally long. Tibiae also of the d with 
appressed hair, only in the middle of the hindtibiae a few bristling hairs; in a few aberrative forms as f. i. 
poggei, the hind tibiae above and even more beneath are quite rough. The cell of the fore-wing more than half as 
long as the -wing; the 2. .subcostal, -with a fe'w exceptions (= Ader 10) arising not from the secondary cell, 
but beyond it from the 3rd subcostal; the 2. and 3. radial and 1. median close together from the lower 
angle of the cell; on the hindwing the cell does barelv or not at all reach the middle of the wing:, the lower 
median approaching the upper one more closely at the cell than on the terminal border. Hindwings red or 
yellow, rarely white, -with black border, forewing almost always -«ith 3 transverse bands, a siibbasal, median 
and subapical one, the median being mostly dissolved in two larger, the subbasal one in several smaller 
spots. The earlier stages are known of only one species, although most species are rather common. AYe sepa¬ 
rate the genus into 3 groups, according to the colour of the abdomen. 
