490 [June 



laterally the tegulre and thorax are covered with yellowish buff hair, 

 somewhat similarly colored with the abdomen, the latter a little paler 

 than the anterior wings, without markings or tufts, prominently exceed- 

 ing the posterior wings. Antennae more testaceous than in allied spe- 

 cies. % . Exp. 1.80 inch. 



Habitat. — Chicago, Illinois. From 3Ir. A. Bolter. 



Datana. perspicua nobis, may be quickly distinguished from the 

 hitherto described species of the genus, by its more yellow color; the 

 narrow anterior wings, the transverse lines not bordered with paler 

 shades, the produced apices, the obsolete irrorations, the wider terminal 

 space, the more crowded transverse lines — all characters which strongly 

 indicate its specific value ; on the under surface the darker color does 

 not spread terminally beyond the fringes. 



The specimens in our possession that we determine as Datana a>n- 

 tracta Walker, have paler hairs on the hind part of the thorax and 

 generally paler hind wings than in Datana ministra Drury sp., while 

 the conformation of the second transverse line is somewhat similar to 

 that in Datana perspicua Grote and Robinson, since it attains, or nearly 

 so, the first line immediately on internal margin. The paler hind wings 

 are, we venture to say, no very strong character, since a specimen of 

 D. ministra sent by Mr. Bolter has this character and Harris' figure, 

 Plate 6, fig. 6, shows the same peculiarity. The " narrowness" of the 

 anterior wings is not striking when compared with small specimens of 

 D. ministra taken in New York State contained in Mr. Bich's Collec- 

 tion, though actual measurements show this to be the case. We refer 

 to D. contractu, a specimen which we owe to the kindness of Mr. F. G-. 

 Sanborn, labelled ''not D. ministra, found on oak by James Angus. 

 West Farms, N. Y.", and which, with the specimens alluded to above, 

 differs from a large Maryland specimen and smaller New York speci- 

 mens of Datana ministra, by the non-excavate external margin of the 

 anterior wings, the general paler color and the more yellowish brown 

 of the central thoracic region. Since we are not presently assured as 

 to the specific limits of Datana ministra and Datana contracta, while 

 without nearer information concerning Mr. Walker's type, we do not 

 give any more definite description of what we consider the latter spe- 

 cies intended by that author, we content ourselves with pointing out 

 the affinity of our genus with the European Phalera bucephala and 

 Phalera lucephaloides, species very similar in appearance, and to sug- 

 gest that, where the limits of the present nearly allied species are not 

 understood, observations made by Entomologists may apply to either 



