THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 69 



THE NOCTUID^ OF EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA 



COMPARED. 



(Sixth Paper.) 



BY A. R. GROTE, A. M., BREMEN, GERMANY. 



Tribe Stiriini. 



This tribe is, so far as I know, exclusively American. The thorax is 

 elevated, the patagia usually deflected. The eyes are naked ; the front 

 embossed ; the legs thinly scaled, with a claw on front tibiae ; the abdo- 

 men somewhat short and weak, untufted on dorsum ; the wings pointed 

 at tips. The genera seem to fall in between Calpe and Plusia.'^ They 

 are : Basilodes, Stiria, Stibadium, Fala, Plagiomimicus, Acopa. The 

 genus Cirrhophanus probably belongs to the HeliotJiini ; we do not 

 know the larva, but the moth is allied to Charidea delphinii, by the 

 Hubnerian character of the pattern of ornamentation. It is probable, 

 also, that Chatnaeclea is best placed among the Heliothians. 



Polenta, referred here by me (Can. Ent., XV., 75), based upon an 

 erroneous identification of Mr. Morrison's Tepperi, with my P/ag. Ric/ii, 

 may be related to one of the species figured by Hiibner in the " Zutraege," 

 under Schinia. I saw the type, but was not able to examine it for generic 

 characters. It seemed to me to be a faded example of a southern form of 

 Plagiomimicus, which I possessed, narrower than Pityochromus, of a 

 delicate olive green, with a frontal cup-like excavation and a claw on the 

 fore tibiae. Mr. Smith assures us that Tepperi has the fore tibiae unarmed ; 

 consequently, I described my species as P. Richi. Finally, Mr. Smith's 

 Cerathosia may belong here. This moth has the false appearance of a 

 Psecadia. I have shown that it is not a micro, neither is it an Arctian, 

 " next to Utetheisa," as stated by Mr. Smith. It has a globose thorax ; 

 a frontal horn, thinly scaled legs with a claw on front tibiae. The shape 



* In reference to the question of rank in the Lepidoptera and to a former paper of 

 mine in these pages, I would state that, while from morphological grounds, we must 

 consider the four-footed butterflies as the highest, the sequence ivithiti the family must 

 be decided on comparative grounds. It may be that the Satyrincc are the lowest sub- 

 family group of the Nymphalida, but they must be nevertheless classed with the family. 

 The characters by which the butterflies approach the moths are apparent in all the 

 groups, as might be expected if we consider the moths to represent an older phase of the 

 Lepidoptera. The highest Nyvipliahdic must be sought for in the tropics ; laut it may 

 be, that the sequence in our North American fauna is to be inaugurated by the Hacl<- 

 lierry butterflies. 



