no. i. BOMBYGTNE MOTHS OF NORTH AMERICA— PACKARD. 143 



SAGANA Walker. 



Sagana Walker, Cat. Lep. Het. Br. Mus., V, p. 1235, 1855. 

 Sagana Kirby, Syn. Cat. Lep. Het., I, p. 754, 1892. 



Imago. — 3 . Head rather narrow, with long spreading hairs concealing the small short 

 palpi. Antennas broadly pectinated to the tip; distal branches as long as the basal ones, except 

 at tip, which is hardly subfiliform. Legs very hairy; tarsi with long hairs on the outside. 



Fore wings very falcate; costa much arched toward the apex; outer edge deeply excavated, 

 the apex being much produced, though not acute at the tip, but rounded. Hind wings reaching 

 much beyond the end of the abdomen, nearly a third of their length; triangular, as broad as 

 long, wider than the fore wings. 



Venation: Very remarkable from its specialized and degenerate nature, there being no 

 veins IIj and II 2 ; veins II 3 and II 4 arising at a point opposite the origin of the anterior discal 

 vein and also that of veins IIL. and III 2 ; the stalk of veins II 3 and II 4 originates at about the 

 middle of the discal cell; veins IIL., IIL, III 3 and IVj are all very short, the outer end of 

 the discal cell being situated near the outer third of the wing; the two discal veins taken together 

 form a long curved fine line forming the axis of the peculiar crescentiform discal spot, while 

 in Cyrtogone the origin of vein IV is remote from that of vein III 3 , in Sagana the two veins have 

 a common origin. Hind wings somewhat as in Micrattacus, but vein III 2 is not detached from 

 IIIj, otherwise as in the fore wing, the discal cell being large, wide, and the outer side situated 

 at the outer third of the whig. 



Markings: Very remarkable discal spots which are large, lunate, semiopake, alike on both 

 pairs of wings, traversed by the slender discal veins; a subapical triangular black and blue 

 spot edged with white. 



Legs long and slender, fore tibia long and slender when denuded, and in <? with no trace 

 of a tibial epiphysis. 



The 9 , judging by Felder's figure of S. semioculata (PI. LXXXVH, Fig. II), has antennas 

 with short pectinations; fore wings wide, subfalcate; the discal spots on the fore wings wide, 

 narrow, oval; fully half as wide as long on the hind wings; the apical spot present. The 

 abdomen only reaches half way to the end of the hind wings. 



This is a remarkable generic form in which (S. sapatoza) there is a striking degree of 

 specialization of the discal spots. The wing membrane of these scaleless areas is dense and 

 rough like thin parchment, and they are of very unusual shape. The degree of specialization 

 and in some very important points of degeneration is striking also as regards the venation. Veins 

 II X and II, being both absent, a unique feature in the Hemileucidse (except Pseudaphelia where 

 they are absent). They are also absent in the Saturnian genera Perisomena and Caligula, 

 Graellsia, and Callosamia. The other distinctions as regards the venation above noted, and 

 the absence of the fore tibial epiphysis, as well as the peculiar discal spots, are exceptional 

 features. The discovery of the larva is most desirable. 



GeograpJtical distribution. — This genus ranges over Central America, extending from Mexico 

 to Colombia and Venezuela. 



It represents in the Neogaeic realm the south African Holocera and Ludia. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 



Fore wings broad, not very falcate; discal spots oval, not lunate S. semioculata. 



Fore wings very falcate; [discal spots] large, lunate, scaleless <S. sapatoza. 



SAGANA SAPATOZA Westwood 



Sagana sapatoza Westwood, Ann. Mag. N. H., 2d ser., XV, p. 299. 

 Sagana sapatoza Walker, Cat. Lep. Het. Br. Mus., V, p. 1235, 1855 

 Sagana sapatoza Kirby, Syn. Cat. Lep. Het., I, p. 754, 1892. 



Imago. — One i . Body and wings uniformly bright olive greenish with a yellowish hue. 

 The short hairs on the antennas and the legs are pink-red, except the hairs of the femora, which 

 are concolorous with the head. 



