BULLETIN 



OP THE 



BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



YOLUME 11. 



I. List of the Noctuidae of North America 



BY AUG. R. GROTE. 

 [Bead before this Society, March 6, 1874.] 



While preparing the following list of North American Noctu- 

 idae, as large material as could possibly be procured has been exam- 

 ined, and many comparisons with the European genera of the group 

 have been made. These comparisons were the more necessary since 

 the genera of M. Guenee, in the Species General, under which 

 alone our species have been hitherto arranged, have not stood the 

 test of recent critical examination. Accordingly other characters, 

 principally pointed out for the first time by Lederer, are here ap- 

 plied to the definition of our American forms. Thus the following 

 list is less a compilation, than an original treatment of the group, 

 and though the generic changes here adopted have in great part 

 been announced in various recent Papers, not a few are here made 

 for the first time. I have also been able to correct here a few of 

 the generic changes proposed by myself in former writings (Bul- 

 letin, Vol. 1, pp. 95-128). 



It is beyond dispute that we should desire to know the best that 

 has been written on any subject. But to know the best it is neces- 

 sary to read with system and with judgment. And the literature 

 of the North American Noctuidae requires the very careful reading 

 of at least three authors. Walker, who has, as we have elsewhere 



BUL. BUr. SOC. NAT. 8CI. (1) APRIL, 1874. 



