SMITH, NEW NOCTUIDjE 101 



Mamestra pallicauda nov. sp. 



Head and thorax dark brown; abdomen gray, the dorsal tuft at base brown. 

 Primaries red-brown tending to gray, with black powderings and transverse lines. 

 Basal line geminate, black, distinct; included space with pale scales; outcurved 

 in the interspaces, reaching to the sub-median vein. T.a. line geminate, black, 

 inner portion tending to become lost; outcurved in the interspaces, a little out- 

 curved as a whole; below vein 1 the included space is white. T.p. line single, black, 

 irregular, incurved in the interspaces, scarcely clears the reniform; a white lunule 

 follows that part below the sub-median vein. The median space is very narrow; 

 and the median shade, which is blackish, runs close to the inner border of the reni- 

 form across cell, and then close to the t.p. line below it. S.t. line irregular, marked 

 partly by blackish shadings and spots, and partly by the darker terminal space. A 

 black terminal line broken by whitish points on the veins, the veins themselves 

 more or less black-marked. Three white points in costa between t.p. and s.t. lines. 

 Orbicular obscure, traceable as an indefinite paler brown blotch. Reniform small, 

 oblique, incompletely outlined, a series of three white dots along the outer edge and 

 a fourth at the lower inner angle. Secondaries smoky, the veins darker, fringes 

 tipped with white. Beneath, smoky gray, powdery, with a smoky extra-median 

 shade and a small dark discal lunule. Tip of abdomen of female obtuse, with a 

 mass of white fluffy hair arranged so as to form a compact mass. 



Expands 1.24 in. — 31 mm. 



Habitat: Palmerly, Cochise County, Arizona, July; Huachuca Moun- 

 tains, Arizona, July 12. 



Two female examples, one of them, belonging to the Brooklyn Institute, 

 in perfect condition; the other, from my own collection, somewhat rubbed. 

 This is altogether unlike any other species known to me, and eventually 

 must be removed from Mamestra, to v/hich I have referred it tentatively in 

 the absence of a male. It belongs to Hadena as limited by Hampson, and 

 has only a basal tuft on the dorsum of the abdomen; but it agrees with none 

 of the species that he places in that genus. The cylindrical, squarely trun- 

 cate abdomen, with its dense tuft of white fluffy hair, is characteristic, and 

 may indicate some unusual character in the male as well. 



Miodera nov. gen. 



Eyes moderate in size, round, hairy. Front protuberant, roughened, obtuse, 

 without processes or plates. Tongue fully developed. Palpi small, oblique, not 

 reaching to the middle of the front, .\ntennse of male lengthily bipectinated, the 

 branches decreasing in length toward the tip, the last few joints merely serrate. 

 Thorax quadrate, heavily clothed with scaly vestiture, forming an obscure anterior 

 and somewhat more obvious posterior tuft; patagia well marked. Vestiture of 

 under side dense, somewhat hairy, loose. Legs short and not especially stout, 

 though the heavy vestiture makes them appear so; anterior tibiae and tarsi without 



