170 BULLETIN 38, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



variable of our species. Usually the markings, and es])eclally tbe 

 ordinary spots, are constant and prominent, and give tbe insect a very 

 distinctive appearauce. Earely tbe orbicular is ovate, and occasionally 

 bottle sbaped. A tendency in specimens from tbe West and Soutb- 

 west is to become suffused witb reddisb, and some western specimens 

 are among tbe largest seen. One form, paler tbau tbe typical speci- 

 mens, and witb a reddisb tint, bas been named var. confracta. by Mr. 

 Morrison in Mr. Tepper's collection. I can not And, bowever, tbat the 

 name was ever publisbed. A form from Washington is decidedly 

 reddisb, so that it was marked ^^rubeJ'actaUs" by Mr. Grote; but I 

 believe all these forms bad better remain under the typical name until 

 large and complete collections will warrant a sound judgment as to 

 their specific or varietal standing. Balanitis Grt. was ap[)lied to a 

 dark form, in which the t. p. line curves inwardly below cell, and the 

 orbicular is small. Specimens before me have this x^eculiarity, and 

 also tbe black lateral line of abdomen, mentioned by Mr. Grote. 

 Confracta Morr., from tbe same locality, shows these peculiarities, 

 which are not usually present in eastern specimens. A very large 

 series before me proves the specific identity of all these forms. 



Mr. Grote suggests tbat the spissa of Walker is not the species de- 

 scribed by Guenee, and I am inclined to believe he is riglit. Mr. 

 Butler, however, in tbe Trans. Ent. Soc. London, for 1880, positively 

 refers spissa Gn. to cochrani Riley, which = mcssoria Harr. Gn this 

 latter point I can say tbat 1 have seen Harris' types in tbe collection 

 of tbe Boston Society of Natural History, and there is no doubt wiiat- 

 ever of tbe identity of tbe name with the species now current under it. 

 To bring Guenee's idea of spissa before the student I cop3' Mr. Grote's 

 translation, which is sufficiently accurate : 

 ^'■Afjrotis spissa Guen., Noct., i, 261. 



" This greatly resembles crassa, but tbe species is mailer (35™'"), of a 

 grayish-brown testaceous, the veins darker and relieved by a slightly 

 piiler ground, especially the median and its last branch ; markings 

 like crassa, but there is a great disproportion between tbe two stigmata ; 

 the t. p. line forms a dash entering below the fourth inferior nervule, 

 and on the inner margin, below the submedian vein, it is elongated in 

 such a way as to touch the top of the mark formed by tbe extra basal 

 line; the cuneiform marks of the s. t. line are more regular and more 

 equal ; the hind wings are darker and more uniform. 



"Am. Sept. Coll. Bdv. Two bad specimens." 



Carneades pleuritica Grt. 

 1875. Grt., Check List, 1875, 47, J gratis. 



" S allied in structure and color to pitychrous, larger (lO™"^), without 

 the costal or other pale shading, of a uniform gray with a yellow brown 

 staining. Orbicular spherical, gray, black ringed, with dark center, 

 larger than in its ally ; claviform short, narrow, without the coutiuu- 



