On Californian Lepidoptera.
BY HERMAN BEHR, M. D.
ERYCINIDÆ
Nemeobius Boisd.
N. Dumeti Behr.
Alæ supra nigræ, fasciis duabus albis signatæ, altera medias per alas transgrediente, altera per spatium inter fasciam mediam et marginem, utraque hinc interrupta vel macalari. Alæ anteriores a radice ad fasciam mediam fulvæ, maculis quatuor quadrangularibus nigro marginatis signatæ.
Alæ subtus grisescentes, marginem versus dilutiores. Anteriores a radice ad fasciam mediam fulvæ, ceterum ut supra signatæ, posteriores fascias demonstrant ut supra, sed confluentes, et hinc coufusas.
This species is found in some parts of California, and always in localities that are covered by the peculiar vegetation called Chaparral.
N Virgulti, Behr.
Alæ supra nigræ, fulvo mixtæ, fasciis duabus signatæ, altera medias per alas transgrediente, colore fulvo fere ubique obducta, altera per spatium inter fasciam mediam et marginem ad punctorum alborum seriem reducta.
Alæ anteriores usque ad marginem fere fulvæ, fascia intermedia maculisque disci albis, nigro marginatis. Margo alarum anteriorum, alæque posteriores totæ grisescentes punctis maculisque albis, nigro marginatis variegatæ.
This species was found near Los Angeles, by Mr. Lorquin, who gave me several specimens. In the male the black color is more predominating, in the female the fulvous coloration.
For the sake of completing this series of diagnoses, I give here the description of a third species, that I received, by the kindness of Dr. Dinklage, from the Sierra Madre, in the neighborhood of Mazatlan. I think it indispensable to give the marks of this closely allied Nemeobius, as I am of the opinion that thus errors will most effectually be avoided.
N. Mejicanus, Behr.
Alæ supra fulvæ, marginem versus brunneæ, fasciis maculisque ordinariis omnibus albis nigro marginatis instructæ. Subtus alæ anteriores fulvæ, apice et margine grisescentes, fasciis et maculis ut supra. Alæ posteriores grisescentes, macalis albis et nigro marginatis et confluentibus cum colore universali irregulariter variegatæ.
The most positive and striking points of difference would be thus:
1. N. Dumeti. Fore wings alone show a fulvous coloration on the upperside. Bands and spots perfectly white.
2. N. Mejicanus. All wings are occupied with it, till beyond the second band, where the brownish coloration of the margin begins. Bands and spots perfectly white.
3. N. Virgulti. Extension of the fulvous as in the preceding, but all the space more or less occupied by black. Middle band nearly altogether fulvous, other bands and spots white.
As much as we know, the type of this genus N. Lucina L, was the only species known heretofore, and it is another proof of the various repetition of types on occidental coasts, that we have to add three Pacific representatives of a genus first discerned in a single European species.
The group of the Erycinides belongs essentially to tropical America. The beforementioned Nemeobius Lucina is the only European representative of this numerous and polymorphous group. Besides this, there exist some few Asiatic members of this family, very aberrant in their type, scarcely known and insufficiently examined, so that possibly they may belong somewhere else. In America the tropical genera Nymphidia and Lemonias, extend beyond the Cancer on the Atlantic side; but on the Pacific side reappears the European genus Nemeobius, extending into the Tropics, and seems to find here its very centre.