THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 45 



NOTE UPON THE REVISION OF THE GENUS CUCULLIA. 



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



The " Revision of the Genus Cucullia," by Prof. Smith, in Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus.j XV., pp. 33, et.seq., raises the number of described North Ameri- 

 can species to 14, and is an interesting addition to the knowledge of our 

 Noctnidcp.. Larger collections from the west have come to hand since my 

 study of the species and have admitted of fuller comparisons. Although 

 the species of Cucullia are not among the commonest Owlet Moths and 

 seem to fall less easily a prey to the collector's efforts than those of many 

 other genera, still we may conclude that the above figures give, at least 

 approximately, the N. American representation of the genus. In a com- 

 parison of the faunae of Europe and North America* I have sought one 

 distinction in the smaller representation of the Hooded Owlets in 

 America. Whereas in other leading genera, such as Apatela (Acronycta), 

 Hadena, Mamestra, Agrotis, Oncoc7iemis, Lithophane, Plusia, Catocala, 

 the North American species are much the more numerous ; in Cucullia 

 the proportion is reversed, and we have only 14 American to 43 European 

 species of the genus. Of a truth we seem to have only 12 species which 

 represent structurally the European forms. Two of our species (bistriga 

 and sertaticomis) I have no doubt (from figures and descriptions, as well 

 as my own observations upon the Californian form) will come to be 

 separated generically, or at least subgenerically, from the rest. There 

 appear to be no analogues to these two species in the European fauna. 



It is noteworthy that our North American species belong, in the main, 

 to the groups represented in Europe by Blattarice, Asteris and u/nbratica. 

 No North American representative of the group of Scoparice appears to be 

 known, and, in particular, the silvery group containing argentea is wanting 

 with us. Our western plains have this in common with the Russian 

 steppes that they produce Heliothini in abundance, and when the descrip- 

 tion of Cucullia lima, Morrison, appeared, I was induced to believe that 

 we had also found an American silvery species of Cucullia, allied to 

 argent ina from Astrachan or splendida from the Ural and Altai. But it 

 now appears that this species of Mr. Morrison's is my Epinyctis notatella, 

 a genus referred by me originally to the white Heliothians, among such 

 forms as Pippona and Antaplaga, and where, from its structure, I believe 

 still it most naturally belongs. At nearly the same time the moth was 



*See Grote : "Die Verwandtschaft," etc., Yerh. Gesell. Deutsch. Naturf., 2tei 

 Theil, pp. 148-154, Leipzig 1890. 



