93 



Family TINEIDAE. 



Oeta g-cmmata, Grote. 



Among a collection of Lepidoptera received by the American 

 Entomological Society from Professor Poey, of Havana., and which 

 collection has been the subject of several papers" in the Proceedings 

 of that Society, is a specimen in excellent conservation, bearing the 

 number 821, and belonging to the genus Oeta, Grote. This little 

 moth is of a most brilliant golden orange, and the markings of the 

 fore wings are similar to those of our United States Oeta compta 

 Clemens sp. ( = Deiopeia aurea Fitch, as suggested, probably correctly, 

 by Mr. Stretch). It is one-third smaller than our species. There 

 are, as usual, four bands composed of white dots on a blackish 

 ground, but here the dots are smaller and linear, appearing as inter- 

 rupted streaks and allowing the darker ground color of the bands 

 to obtain. But the bands themselves are narrower in 0. gemmata, 

 so that the golden appearance of the wings is much less interrupted 

 than in 0. compta. The third band is furcate before costa, while 

 the fourth, covering internal angle, is not connected with the outer 

 limb of the apical furcation, as in 0. compta. The hind wings are 

 smoky hyaline, becoming darker exteriorly. The smoky abdomen 

 has a bluish reflection. The legs, palpi and face are dark with white 

 points. The basal joint of the fore legs is golden outwardly. 

 Altogether, this is a narrower insect that 0. compta, and very evi- 

 dently a smaller species. The Cuban specimen expands 23 m. m., 

 while the fore wings at their greatest breadth near the external mar- 

 .gin measure 3 millemetres. 



Professor Zeller characterizes Oeta punctella {Cramer) compara- 

 tively with 0. compta, in the Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, p. 

 178, 1871. Cramer describes his species from Surinam, while Pro- 

 fessor Zeller seems to hesitate to regard his So. American specimens 

 as belonging to a distinct species from our United States 0. compta. 



>6 Gro^«— Notes on the Sphingidae of Cuba, Proc. E. S. Phil., Vol. 5, pp. 33-84. 1805; Notes 

 on the Bombycidae of Cuba, id., pp. 227-255; Notes on the Zygaenidao of Cuba, id.. Vol. f>, 

 pp. 173-189, and pp. 297-334, 1806-7; List of the Sphingidae, Aegeriadae, Zygaenidae and 

 Bombycidae of Cuba, Trans. Am. Eiit. Soc, Vol. 3, pp. 183-188, October, 1870. 



