tHE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 109 



full, tending to be marked by continuous bands. The eyes are naked ; 

 antennae generally simple ; body usually untufted ; abdomen smooth and 

 tapering ; the dorsal surface rarely crested ; the tibiae not unfrequently 

 armed. Packard says that the epicranium is longer than in the Noctiiince. 

 The basis of this sub-family is comparative form. No single structural 

 feature holds the genera together, and Lederer does not recognize its 

 existence. Nevertheless the moths and larvae seem to me more or less 

 readily distinguishable, and that we may retain the sub family term. Dr. 

 Packard says (1. c.) that these two sub-families "agree in the main with 

 the Trifidce and Qicadrifidce. of Guenee, though the use which he makes 

 of the venation seems to us to lead to artificial distinctions. The very 

 constant venation of this family does not admit of any variation in the 

 grouping of these veins and their branches, and hence they offer characters 

 of secondary importance." With this statement my experience fully 

 agrees. I do not think that the venation alone should decide family 

 position. There are already too many exceptions known to the system of 

 Herrick-Schaeffer, which is, in some cases, considered the test of family 

 character by Lederer. I regard this paper of Dr. Packard's as of funda- 

 mental value in the study of the Nodiiidce ; the author, however, excluded 

 the Deltoids, which, I think, from a// their characters are Noctuidce. It 

 is not at all clear also, whether Dr. Packard considers the Thyatirince as 

 a distinct sub-family group. Probably not, and that they are merely a 

 tribal division of the Noctuince. To this view I should not seriously 

 object, although I do not venture to decide upon it. The unequal 

 characters by which we separate the Thyatirince and Brephijice from the 

 rest of the Noctuidce are an objection to Lederer's classification. In the 

 present series of papers the object is mainly to compare the fauna and 

 the full discussion of this and similar points, must be left to a future 

 occasion. Primarily this sub-family falls into two groups : — First, the 

 tribe Catocalifii, in which the secondaries, though often gaily coloured, 

 are covered by and subordinated to the primaries. The European genera 

 belong chiefly to this tribe. Secondly, the Pheocymini ( Pheocyma, 

 Homoptera, Erebus, etc.,) in which the secondaries are partially exposed 

 and marked like the forewings, decidedly geometriform moths. The 

 larva thus first becomes geometriform as we recede from the higher 

 Noctuidce^ and then the perfect insect follows suit, 



