222 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



form serving to separate genera. Oncocnemis differs from the 

 surrounding allies by the possession of a claw on the fore tibia. 

 Through a series of more brightly colored forms we reach a series 

 of species and genera which are of a prevailing rusty or red- 

 brown tint, and of these Hydroecia may be considered typical. 

 They are Hadenids in most of their structural characteristics; 

 but color, wing form and vestiture, differ slightly, the latter much 

 more inclined to hairy. With Nonagria we begin a series of 

 forms in which the transverse maculation becomes less obvious 

 and a distinct tendency to a strigate type is manifested. Leu- 

 cania, with a predominating white color and hairy eyes, is the 

 leading genus. The following Taeniocampid series is character- 

 ized by hairy eyes and a usually reddish or brown color, the 

 vestiture varying from scaly to hairy. The front is always smooth 

 and the tibiae are never spinose, the anterior armed in one genus 

 only. The relation of this series to the forms classed under or 

 near Mamestra is sometimes close. 



Similar in color, but much brighter, with naked eyes and a 

 usually smoother vestiture, are the Orthosiids, which often have 

 somewhat large wings and more slender, untufted bodies and tend 

 in some directions to flattened or depressed body, leading grad- 

 ually to what may be called the Xyliniform series. Here the wings 

 become narrower, more elongate, usually parallel, and the outer 

 margin is scarcely oblique. The head is frequently retracted 

 and the eyes quite usually furnished with long lashes, though 

 they may be hairy or entirely naked. In Xylina we have the 

 typical form, which changes gradually to the type seen in Cucul- 

 lia, where the wings are lanceolate and the thoracic tufting is 

 curiously developed. Anomis and Aletia seem to form the bridge 

 to the Plusiid series, in which we have bright, often metallic colors, 

 unarmed front and legs, naked eyes, a very characteristic tho- 

 racic and abdominal tufting, and in the larva a distinct tendency 

 to the looper or Geometrid type, the prolegs decreasing in 

 number. 



Next follows a series of moths resembling the Plusiids in the 

 metallic colors and in the thoracic tuftings. The wings are 

 broader, however, with a tendency to become somewhat falcate 

 at tip, the front is protuberant and pitted, and the fore tibiae are 

 armed with a curved claw. From this type we have a gradual 

 merging into the Heliothid type. Here we have bright, con- 



