14 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



pile and spines also black ; front femora and tibiae destitute of stout 

 bristles^ claws of front tarsi scarcely visible. Wings blackish brown, the 

 following parts hyaline ; apices of marginal and first submarginal cells ; 

 second and third submarginal cell wholly ; apical half of outer first pos- 

 terior cell ; second, third and fourth posterior cells except spot in base of 

 each, that in second posterior cell extending into the third ; apices of 

 third basal and axillary cells ; and middle third and apex of discal cell. 

 Veins at bases of first submarginal, inner and outer first posterior, and of 

 the third and fourth posterior cells, bordered with sub-hyaline. Halteres 

 brown, the knob yellowish. Length 12-15 ^- ^'^- Two specimens. Cal. ; 

 Ariz. (WiUiston). 



ALETIA ARGILLACEA. 



BY A. R. GROTE, BREMEN, GERMANY. 



1 have found in various collections in Europe, both public and private, 

 specimens of the moth of our Cotton Worm determined after Hiibner as 

 above. From a note from Dr. Staudinger, I gather that in his collection 

 the moth is so determined and as proposed by me. Were I now to pro- 

 pose to call this species by its synonym, Noctua xylhia Say, I do not think 

 any of the entomologists in Europe would agree thereto, or be governed 

 by Dr. Hagen's reasons for the change. Say was no Lepidopterist, and 

 his posthumous description of the moth is not recognizable, only that he 

 tells us it is the moth so injurious to cotton. By this we translate his 

 description. But Hiibner's figure and text are quite sufficient to identify 

 the species, and he gives us the proper classification of these moths. I 

 myself have shown how Aletia and Aiiomis are to be separated. The 

 latter, with its orange colored and angulated wings, is a sort of tropical 

 Xanthia. The tropical genera of Noctuidce are all less woolly than the 

 temperate forms. In Aletia, the smooth, untufted body, the entire wings, 

 the broad head, prepare us for the Catocaline moths, Poaphila and Agno- 

 monia. It differs from Anomis erosa by the broader wings, with straight 

 external margin, and, as I first pointed out to Prof Riley, by the number 

 of false feet in the larva. There is a second true species of Aletia in 

 Texas, hostia of Harvey, but this second cotton-feeder is also Southern 

 and may have been described from Mexico or Central America previously. 



