DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES AXD VARIETIES. 75 



dining to cinnamon-brown, with the posterior border but slightly darker and the 

 fringe paler. Under surface quite uniform, that of front wings bring nacreous gray 

 with a faint discal spot and with a narrow costal and broad terminal border of pale 

 fulvous, dusted with purple-gray ; the hind wings of this last color with the lunule 

 and line distinct. Head nearly entire, though the quadririd arrangement of the hairs 

 is traceable ; palpi hairy throughout. Thorax quite square, of same color as primaries 

 and with the collar bordered behind with brown and sometimes the edges of the 

 tegnlte similarly bordered. Alxloiiu-n of same color as hind wings with lateral tufts, 

 and cut off squarely at apex. Expanse 1.32 1.82 inches [=34 45 mn1 ]. 



Described from 3 specimens fed on grape-vine, 2 on peaches and 1 on Ccrcis canadensis. 

 Other captured specimens examined. 



This species is the analogue of, and very closely resembles the European Xylina con- 

 formis, which is known under various synonyms. A specimen sent to Mr. P. C. Zeller 

 of Stettin, Prussia, was, however, pronounced distinct. The well-marked irrorate 

 form still more closely resembles Guenee's clneroxa found in Switzerland, and which he 

 himself thinks may prove to be a variety of conformis. The more I study the species 

 of the NOCTUID.E as they occur in nature, the more I am struck with their great vari- 

 ability, and there can be no doubt that many of the so-called species will turn out to 

 be but varieties when we better understand them. In this large family none but the 

 more strikingly marked species should ever be described without an accompanying 

 description of their preparatory states and of their principal variations. I am unac- 

 quainted with any of Walker's species except suboostalis, which is very different, and 

 if this should prove to be a synonym of any of them the fault must be laid to the 

 difficulty under which the naturalist in the Western States labors for want of proper 

 libraries to refer to. It differs essentially from Grote's Bethunei and capax as described 

 and illustrated in Volume I of the Transactions of the American Entomological 

 Society. I am informed by Mr. [J.] A. Lintner of Albany, N. Y., that Dr. A. Speyer of 

 Rhoden, Fiirsteuthum Waldeck, Prussia, who gives much attention to the Noctuida?, 

 has it marked Celoc.na oblonya in his MS., but the insect evidently does not belong to 

 that genus, and as the German pronunciation of Xyliita much resembles Ihe English 

 pronunciation of Celocna, the reference to the latter is doubtless due to a verbal mis- 

 understanding. [Third Rept., pp. 135, 136. Fig. 57. 



Xow referred, in Grote's List of Xoctuidce of N. J.., to Hiibner's genus 

 Lithophane. 



AMPHIPYRA COXSPERSA, X. Sp. Larva. Found full grown July 2, 1867 , on Hazel. 

 No pyramidal hump, and of a uniform emerald-green, the dorsal palpitations visible 

 and the stigmata pale, with a black aunulation, but with no other markings either on 

 the head, body, or legs. 



Imago Like pyramidoides in every particular except that the brown of front wings 

 is almost uniformly spattered over, more or less suffusely, with pale-grayish spots, so 

 that no regular marks appear. The costal marks are. however, tolerably distinct as 

 in pyramidoidt'*, and by careful examination and comparison traces of the more con- 

 spicuous marks of that species may be discerned. 



Described from one 9 bred July 31. [Third Rept., p. 75. 



As remarked at the time, the specimen from which the description 

 was made was a bred one and perfect. Grote, in his List of Noctuidce, 

 considers it simply an aberration of pyramidoides ^ but this can hardly 

 be the case, as the larva also shows differences. 



AGROTIS SCAXDKXS, N. Sp. Larva. Average length when full grown 1.40 [inch, 

 = 35 m "']. Ground-color very light yellowish gray, variegated with glaucous- in the 

 shape of different sized patches, which are distinctly see uuiider the lens to be sepa- 

 rated by fine lines of the light ground-color. A well-defined dorsal and less distinct 



