I' 
FAMILY NOCTUID/E 
** Shall mortal man be more just than God ? 
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? 
Behold He put no trust in His servants; 
And His angels He charged with folly: 
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, 
Whose foundation is in the dust, 
Which are crushed before the moth ? ’ ’ 
Job, Chapter IV , 17-19. 
The Noctuidce are a huge complex of genera and species, 
the genera being reckoned by hundreds, and the species by 
thousands. Within the faunal limits intended to be covered by 
this book there are already known to occur in the neighborhood 
of three hundred and seventy-five genera, and many more than 
two thousand species which are referable to this family. In the 
arrangement of the genera and the species the author has in the 
main followed Dyar’s Catalogue, which is based upon that of 
Prof. J. B. Smith, published in 1893 as “Bulletin 44 of the 
United States National Museum.” 
The moths are nocturnal in their habits. The neuration is 
very constant, and is described as follows by Hampson (“Moths 
of India,” Vol. II, p. 160): 
“ Fore wing with vein 1 a slight and not anastomosing with 
1 b\ 1 c absent; 2 from middle of cell; 3, 4, 5 from close to lower 
angle; 6 from upper angle; 8 given off from 7 and anastomosing 
with 9, which is given off from 10 to form an areole; 11 from 
cell; 12 long. Hind wing with 1 a and b present; 1 c absent; 
2 from middle of cell; 3 and 4 from lower angle; 5 from near 
lower angle or middle of discocellulars, rarely absent, but more 
or less aborted in the Acontiince and Trifince . Frenulum always, 
proboscis almost always, present.” 
The larvae are generally naked, or at most pubescent. In 
some of the subfamilies the larvae are semiloopers, some of the 
prolegs being absent. Pupation generally takes place under 
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