Vol. XXlv] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 363 



for one moment the least doubt of their identity, nor, I fancy, 

 could anyone else examining them with an unprejudiced eye. 

 It is strange that the reference has not been made before. 

 Elata was known to Hampson only by a figure, on the strength 

 of which he made it congeneric with scandens, referring both 

 to Lycophotia Hiibn. The frons is smooth, but the spines at 

 the extremity of the fore tibiae are extremely stout, and in 

 some specimens two or three of them are very decided long 

 claws. Several species of Euxoa appear to have similar claws, 

 not found in any Peridroma which I have yet examined, 

 the latter genus being treated by Hampson as a synonym of 

 Lycophotia. 



Peridroma demutabilis Smith. 



This was described in 1893, and there are a pair of types in 

 the Washington Museum from San Bernardino Co., Calif., and 

 according to my notes, a male type from the same locality is in 

 Smith's collection. Of the Washington types, the male is yel- 

 lowish, but is stained. This, and two other males from Ari- 

 zona associated with it, have thoracic vestiture hairy. The fe- 

 male type is not yellowish, and has thoracic vestiture distinctly 

 scaly. However, they looked to me the same species. I find 

 the vestiture very variable in some Agrotids. The antennae of 

 the male type I should describe as serrate- fasciculate, the ser- 

 rations very coarse and short. The Arizona specimens have 

 the serrations less coarse, that is to say, less like merely well- 

 marked joints. Every gradation can be found between a merely 

 ciliate antenna in a noctuid, and one that is almost serrate- 

 fasciculate, and the thickness of the joints, or length of the 

 serrations, often varies considerably in a species. Hampson 

 lists an Arizona male, though the key gives his figure as fe- 

 male, placing it in a group of Lycophotia with male antennae 

 ciliate only, which by male type is incorrect. 



Agrotis biclavis Grt. was described in 1879, apparently from 

 a single Arizona male. The type I have seen in the British 

 Museum, and it is slightly ochreous, as described by Grote, 

 though this color is exaggerated in Hampson's figure. The 

 antennae are finely serrate-fasciculate, or, as Grote puts it, 

 "brush-like with the joints nodose." 



