Grot e. I 4:ib [Dec. 6, 



The Eypenoid Moths and Allied Orovps. 



By A. RadcUffe Grote, A.M. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, December 6, 1S95. ) 



The folloTving paper may be considered as a conclusion lo that published 

 by this Society in 1883 upon the Noctuse of North America. As far as 

 the literature is accessible and material allows, I have considered the 

 European and North American forms, wiiose relationship is so intimate 

 that stable results can never be obtained from their separate study. 



The Agrotid Moths. 



Since my paper above alluded to, this group has been catalogued in 

 1890, 1891, 1893 and 1895. In the Washington catalogue (No. 44), the . 

 general sequence of the entire family group is based upon my New York 

 list of 1882 ; the families Thyatiridse, Noctuidse and Brephidae, as limited 

 by me in 1883, being used. In 1895, I separated the Apatelidse as a dis- 

 tinct family, based on larval characters, and proposed to designate the 

 main group of the owlet moths b.y the name Agrotidag, the term Noctua 

 being preoccupied in the birds. The Thyatiridse are shown by Dyar to be 

 structurally allied to the Platypterygidaj and Geometridae, from larval 

 characters, and with this I am agreed. They are therefore removed from 

 this series which now stands : Apatelidse, Agrotidae, Brephidaj. In my 

 efforts to clear the nomenclature and apply the oldest terms I have 

 endeavored to bring these into conformity with the system employed in 

 general zoology. In my Systema, August 15, 1895, I have shown 

 that the terms "Macro" and "Micro" apply to certain characteristics, 

 designated by Speyer and Chapman, which we can trace through long 

 series; even Papilio showing "Micro" characteristics, as in the pupal 

 waist. However useful and necessary a study of these characters is in 

 phylogeny, they should be rejected from the nomenclature of taxonomical 

 groups. The terms are generally so little understood that they have 

 been applied quite recently as an index to relative size. I replace the 

 term Microlepidoplera, in a taxonomical sense, by that of Tineides for the 

 superfamily. 



There remains here for me to note certain changes in the Agrotina^ 

 since my last list. The genus Harrisimemna Grote turns out, as I ex- 

 pected, to belong to the Apatelidne, and should be there referred. Tbe 

 genus Raphia, from Dyar's observation on the larva, must be removed 

 from the Apatelida; to the Hadcnini. It seems to be allied to the Euro- 

 pean Episema, but I have not seen the Spanish species of Kaphia, nor 

 compared the American forms with the European genera in question. 



The genera Calocampa and Lithomia (Lithomoia) should be referred to 

 the tribe Calocampini Grote, 1890 ; while the genus Lilhophane (= Xylina 



