52 
METARCTIA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
melaleuca. A. meSaleuca Roll. (6 c). Body and wings white, forewing with an orange costal margin and grey 
marginal area and apex. Cameroon. 
cancscens. A. eanescens Wkr. (= pallota Ploiz, = cinerocostata Holl., $ =■ cana Roll.) (6 c, d). Much larger 
than the preceding, particularly the $. $ dull whitish, $ darker grey, quite uni-coloured. Body densely haired 
subcanes- like a fleece. From Sierra Leone to South Africa, East Africa, and Natal. - — subcanesceiis Rothsch. (6 f) is 
ecus. a sma p er f orm i- ;1 which the $ is light dull white, like the <$ of canescens. Senegambia. A form of this species 
has recently also been discovered in the Palearctic Region, in the Cyrenaica. 
rendalli. A, rctidalli Rothsch. (Ge) is very similar to canescens, but the $ is much smaller than most of the $$ 
of canescens , and the wings are of a dull smoky brownish-grey colour. Central Africa. 
vitrina. A. vitrina Oberth. (5 d). We append here a species being at once recognisable by the hindwing consi¬ 
sting only of very small stunted lobes. Whitish, forewing with a blurred reddish-brown shadow at the costal 
margin, distal margin, behind the cell, and above the base of the hind-margin. Congo. 
preussi. A 0 prewssi Gaede sp. n. (ined.). ,,Similar to a black vitrina, with broad black-veins. 30 mm. Sierra 
Leone. “ 
19. Genus: Metarctia Wkr. 
H amps ox combines in this genus about 40 forms which were formerly split into several genera, and 
which were sometimes also ranged in wrong genera. A number of species is still very closely allied to the Apisa, 
whilst some others are so closely allied to the following Balacra that they have been described as such. As to the 
generic names, not all questions have yet been settled, since e. g. the genotype of the genus Anace Wkr. ( perpusilla) 
being inserted in the Metarctia has proved to be the 1 of a Meganaclia ; caeruleifascia Wkr. is more correctly 
placed to the Balacra ; with this species again Automolis ehrmanni is identical, and so on. Now the imagines 
with serrate $ antennae are generally regarded as Balacra (= Pseudapiconoma Aur.), those with bipectinate 
d antennae with long pinnae as Metarctia. The hindwings, though being small, are not so much stunted as 
in many £<$ of Balacra. The larvae are only known of M. meteus Stoll and make the impression of Arctiid 
larvae without the real hair-brushes and pencils found in so many American Syntomid larvae, in the Indian 
and African Eucliromia and other allies. •— The Metarctia are, like the following Balacra, nocturnal insects 
without a proboscis, of mostly dull, dark colours, rather uni-coloured, varying from a sooty brown to ruddle-red 
which in many cases is only yet found on the body, in some, however, also on the wings. 
lateritia. IVL lateritia H.-Schdjf. (=- rubra Wkr., venosa Wkr. cinnamomea Wallgr., unicolor Oberth.) (5e). At 
once discernible by the veins being thickly bordered with a fiery red, traversing the earth-brown ground-colour. 
— In typical specimens the body and particularly the dorsum of the thorax are marked with a very bright 
kelleni. red; in the form kelleni Snell, the red borders of the veins are finer, and the red marking on the thorax is 
abyssinibia. more scanty. •— In ab. abyssinibia Strd. the thorax and forewing are uniformly suffused with brown. ■—• Distri¬ 
buted from Abyssinia and the Galla Districts over Mozambique and Natal to Cape Colony, and in some places 
rather common. 
erlangeri. M. erlatigeri Rothsch. ( = diversa B.-Bak.) (6 g) is almost exactly like a lateritia, but the total colour¬ 
ing is a bright purple pink, not only the neuration. Forewing and thorax with a somewhat brownish tinge. 
The $ has a red-brown costal margin of the forewing. Abyssinia and Angola. 
cameruna. M. camerana Hmps. (= haematoessa Oberth. nec Holl.) (6f) was at first taken to be the $ of haema- 
toessa Holl. (6h), but perhaps it does not belong at all to this genus, but to Balacra. It has a yolk-coloured, 
not red body, and in the forewing there are some more fiery-red spots, in the base of the cell and before 
the cross-vein. Cameroon. 
ftavivena. M. flavivena Hmps. (6 d). Body dark hemochrome, dorsum of thorax with 2 brown spots. Fore wing 
dark brown, in typical specimens crossed by yellow veins. The $ exhibits more distinct dark transverse bands 
zegina. across the abdomen. Central and East Africa. — The Abyssinian form zegina Strcl. (= subsp. 1 Hmps.) exhibits 
red veins in the forewing, whereby a certain resemblance to M. lateritia from the same patria is produced; 
panyamana. ground-colour of hindwing darkened by dark brown, so that the neuration is prominently light. — panyamana 
Strd. (= subsp. 2 Hmps.) represents the species in Nigeria; here the forewings also show red veins, but the 
hindwing purple pink ones. 
crassa. M. erassa Fldr. (= meteus Wkr. nec Stoll) (Of). Reddish yellowish-brown, the neuration of the 
forewing and the costal margin being dark brown. Cape Colony. 
flaviciliata. M. flaviciliata Hmps. (6 d). Body dark hemochrome, dorsum of thorax with 2 lateral brown spots. 
Wings dark brown with yellow fringes, hindwing somewhat lighter than forewing. In the $ the abdomen show's 
more distinct dark bands, Uganda. 
