350 
DACTYLOCERAS. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
lucina. 
tridcniata. 
ocelligera. 
catenigera. 
bramarbas. 
bar ns i. 
1. Genus: Dactyloceras Mell. 
Separated from Brahmaea by the 2nd and 3rd radials (veins 9 and 10) of the tore wing only bifurcating 
when the 4th and 5tli radials (veins 8 and 7) have already bifurcated; thus from the joint stalk at first 
vein 7 rises, then 8, at last 9 and 10, the two latter being sometimes coalescent. All these radial branches are 
more removed towards the costal margin than in Brahmaea; in the latter the 2nd and 3rd radials (9 and 10) 
and the 4th and 5th radials (8 and 7) are each on a joint stalk, and the two stalks are then stalked once more. 
In the hindwing the cross-vein (bar) between vein 8 and the anterior edge of the cell being often present in 
Brahmaea is invariably absent here. In the forewing the 1st radial (vein 11) is strong in Brahmaea, whereas 
in Dactyloceras it is in the basal portion feeble, hardly visible. 
The larvae, according to Mell, are dark in all their stages, on all the segments with spiniform fleshy 
cones; in Brahmaea green or brown with corkscrew-like spines on the 2nd, 3rd, and 11th segments. 
The single species are often very much alike, only separated by slight differences in the marking, which 
are also parallelled by structural marks. In how far there are only races or distinct species, cannot be decided 
for the present. 
D. lucina Dru. (2 = swanzii Btlr.) (60 a). Separated from all the other African Brahmaeidae by 
the submarginal ocelli of the forewing exhibiting 2 in the apex that deviate from the others, since they appear 
to be oblong, and the foremost is mostly smaller. Beginning from the 4th ocellus, the ocelli are outside bordered 
by bluish-white scales. The fine undulate lines of the basal portion are connected with those in the discal area, 
so that the dark median area appears to be interrupted. Ocelli in the fore wing and hindwing, excepting the 
apical ones in the forewing, of the same shape. Veins 4 and 5 converge in both wings considerably after their 
origin. Cross-vein of hindwing with white hairs, feebly curved, and it is met by the median fold of the cell 
slightly above its centre. Apex of forewing in the $ strongly produced. In the forewing at the cross-vein a 
dark crescent sometimes broken up into spots, distally to it between veins 4 and 5 another large spot, both 
of which are fused forming a tricuspid spot in the much rarer form tridentata Covte from the Congo; below 
it some smaller spots, 2 more are below the costal margin, all of them chocolate-brown, edged with white. West 
Africa, from Sierra Leone and Spanish Guinea to the Congo. 
In all the following species the apex of the o forewing is not produced, the apical black ocelli are round and 
of the same shape as the others, the latter are distally bordered by a line of bluish-white scales, the ocelli in the hindwing 
are at least partly of a different shape from those in the forewing, never filled with white. In the forewing veins 4 and 5 
parallel or divergent. Cross-vein of hindwing in the lower portion very strongly bent, the median fold of the cell terminates 
at its foremost part, it is never covered with white hairs. 
1. Species with an undulate outermost black line in the hindwing. 
D. ocelligera Btlr. (47 f). In the forewing the transverse lines of the basal areea are contiguous with 
those of the discal area, the median band is interrupted in such a way that the lower portion is isolated as an 
oval spot from the inner margin (as in bramarbas) ; submarginal ocelli with large roundish centres. In the hindwing 
the black marginal area is distally somewhat dentate. Mombasa, British East Africa. 
D. catenigera Karsch ( = catenaria Grilnb. nec Karsch ) (60 c $). In the forewing the dark median 
band is not interrupted, the undulate lines are separated from the basal and discal areas also at the inner margin, 
submarginal ocelli not so broadly filled with dark, the dark basal area of the hindwing hardly dentate. Isle 
of Szosswe in L. Victoria. Only $ known. 
2. The black fine marginal line in the hindwing not undulate or absent. 
a) In the hindwing the cross-vein between the origin of veins 6 and 7 about as long as between 5 and 6. 
D. bramarbas Karsch (60 b $). In the forewing the outermost light undulate line of the basal area 
at the inner margin bent round to the first of the discal area; thus the dark median band does not reach to 
the inner margin. In the hindwing the dark basal area is strongly dentate, all the submarginal ocelli are 
uniformly reniform. West Africa: L. Elephant (Cameroon). Hitherto only the female is known. 
/•I) In the hindwing the cross-vein between veins 6 and 7 always much shorter than between 5 and 6, sometimes even 
absent there. 
* Wings without any white markings. 
D. barnsi Joic. <0 Tall). Near to maculata (60 c) from which it differs in the absence of white markings 
and in the unicoloured black basal area of the hindwing. The exterior discal line of the forewing is said not to touch 
the first postdiscal line. Expanse: 140 mm. Ruanda, at an altitude of 6—7000 ft., in December. (It was 
not before me). 
* * 
Wings with white markings. 
