1865.] 



4Si) 



LEPIDOPTEKOLOGICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS.— No. 1. 



BY AUG. R. GROTE & COLEMAN T. ROBINSON. 



DATANA, Walker. 

 Datana perspicua, n. sp. (Plate 3, fig. 1, % .) 



Anterior wings narrower, more produced at the apices than in its 

 congeners, of a clear yellowish buff color, the scattered irrorations obso- 

 lete, all the transverse lines bright ferruginous, very distinct ; fringes 

 dark ferruginous, sharply contrasting with the ground color of the 

 wing. Two discal ferruginous spots, the outer of which forms a ring- 

 let intersected by the third transverse line. Two lines anterior to the 

 outer discal spot of which the first is regularly acute ; the second line 

 running obliquely outward from the costa outside of the inner discal 

 spot, thence inversely obliquely to internal margin where it joins the 

 first line. The third line, at about the middle of the wing, is slightly 

 arcuate, very distinct and appears to intersect the outer discal spot. 

 The fourth line is approximate to the fifth, than which it is fainter, 

 but it is plainer than what is called the " streak" by Walker in describ- 

 ing Datana mfnistra Walk., and Datana contractu Walk., to which we 

 consider it analagous. All these lines are straighter, except the second, 

 than in the hitherto described and above mentioned species of the 

 genus, and are more crowded together in the central space of the wing, 

 thus leaving the terminal space much wider. Between the lines, an°d 

 more especially between the first and second, the wing is darker' and 

 more ferruginous than elsewhere, while nowhere is it distinctly pow- 

 dered with darker scales as it is in the other species of the genus. A 

 distinct ferruginous very oblique apical streak, joining external margin 

 just below the apex, is continued, slightly wavy and very obliquely°to 

 first median nervule approximate to the fifth line ; fringes very dark 

 ferruginous ; external margin not excavate. 



Posterior wings very pale stramineous testaceous, with more yellow- 

 ish margins, immaculate, without any apparent median line ; fringes 

 darker. 



Under surface entirely pale stramineous, immaculate; the dark 

 fringes on anterior pair contrasting forcibly with the pale squammation. 



Head, prothorax above, and outside of legs, yellowish buff, shading 

 to ferruginous on the tegulae and thorax centrally, but not as in Datana 

 mmistra, in which latter the coloration of these parts is darker and 

 richer and extends, unicolorously, over the prothorax. Posteriorly and 



