ALBERT

Description: The present paper contains descriptions of several new species of the genus Bactra Stephens from the tropics of the Old and New World, while stray notes and noteworthy records on known species are added. Records on Australian species are excluded, pending an opportunity for a revision of the entire Bactra fauna of that continent \xe2\x80\x94 with the exception of two species which are recorded in order to rectify some synonymies.\nIn total one allied genus, ten species, three subspecies and one forma are described as new, while records on 42 already known species are presented.\nSince the genital characters of Bactra species are of such paramount importance it was deemed necessary to present elaborate figures of the genitalia of the two sexes, besides the usual technically indispensable descriptions or redescriptions of the species. At the other hand photographic illustrations of the entire insects usually are disappointing, the markings being very much the same. Therefore I abstained from including such photographs, with one exception : that of the type species of the new genus, Protobactra diachorda (Meyrick).\nIn the Palaearctic and Aethiopian regions the character of speciation in the three principal subgenera of Bactra, viz. Bactra, Chiloides Butler and Nannobactra Diakonoff, is quite different, as has already been elaborated in my previous reviews of the genus. The South American fauna follows basically the same pattern. The species of the subgenus Bactra, however, are more differentiated than their relatives of the Old World and are therefore easier to discriminate. The subgenus Chiloides is equally rich in well-defined species in South America as it is in Asia and Africa. Finally, subgenus Nannobactra appears to be enigmatic all over the world (with the exception

Description: The superfamily Tortricoidea, the so-called leaf-rollers, contains a group of exceptionally large and conspicuously coloured species, forming the chiefly Central Asiatic Cerace group. Superficially these species do not resemble other leaf-rollers very closely. Consequently several authors placed them incorrectly: Butler (1881), Warren (1888) and Cotes (1889) in the Lithosiidae, Snellen (1903) in the Tineidae, Meyrick (1907) originally in the Plutellidae. But Walker (1863) and also Moore (1888) recognised their Tortricoid character and later also Meyrick (1908) came to the same conclusion.\nHowever, the true systematic position of the Cerace group within the superfamily Tortricoidea appeared to be even more puzzling, and subject to considerable controversy. So Meyrick (1908) established the tortricoid family Ceracidae but soon abandoned this idea and in 1912 placed the species known at that time in the family Tortricidae. The present author (Diakonoff) originally followed the last solution but later (1939) separated the Cerace group as a subfamily under a less fortunately chosen name, Ceracidii. However, after a revision of the group with the aid of more extensive and rare material at the British Museum (Diakonoff, 1950), he was convinced of its independence, and resurrected Meyrick\'s family Ceracidae.\nAt about the same time Obraztsov (1949) relegated the taxon to the status of a tribe, "Ceraciini", deriving his conclusion, however, from the study of a rather limited material.\nSo far our entire knowledge of the Ceracinae has been based on the characters of the adults, no information on the early stages being available.\nFor a long time nothing was known about the larvae or the host plants of

Description: INTRODUCTION\nIn 1956 I published a revision of a part of the genus Bactra Stephens and ventured to state that "To a diligent student of genital characters Bactra does not present any serious problems" (p. 2). Since that time I had the opportunity to examine an extensive new material; and came to the conclusion that my former statement was unduly optimistic, at least, when applied to the species of the subgenus Bactra Stephens. Contrary to my previous opinion discrimination of several of these species proves to be extremely difficult.\nTherefore, it seems advisable to anticipate my proposed, more definitive, world-wide revision of the entire genus Bactra by publishing the present preliminary paper, representing the latest results of my examination of the Palaearctic species of the subgenus Bactra. This study is chiefly based on the rich collection of the Zoological Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, but for a part also on material studied earlier from other sources.\nThe Palaearctic representatives of the subgenus Bactra form a central furfurana group of closely related species, beside a few species which are less closely related.\nMost of these species are not identifiable without a minute study of the genital characters of the two sexes. It was necessary to describe these structures at some length. I tried to simplify the descriptions as much as possible by introducing some simple terms which are explained in fig. 1a. It was not easy to put slight differences into words; therefore I tried to illustrate the descriptions by as many figures as possible. Not only type specimens are