94 BULLETIN 38, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Noctua clandestina Harr. 



1841. Harris, luj. Insects (Fliut ed.), 448, life hist., Noctua. 



1869. Grt., Traus. Am. Eut. Soc, ii, 309, Agrotis. 



1869. Saund., Cau. Eut., ii, 35 Noctua. 



1869. Riley, First Kept. lus. Mo., 79, f. 27, aud pi. i 1'. 13, Agrotis. 



1873. Grt., Bull. Buft". Soc. N. Sci., i, 143, Noctua. 



1875. Speyer, Stett. Eut. Zeit., 36, 131, Agroiis. 



1-81. Riley, ludex to Mo. Repts., 55, Agrotis. 



1883. Saunders Fruit lus. 108, f . 106, 107, Agrotis. 



1889. Butler, Traus. Eut. Soc. Loud., 1889, 381, = Spwiotis ravida. 



unicolor Wlk. 

 1856. Wlk., C. B. Mus.,Lcp. Het., ix, i>33, Mnmestra. 

 1869. Grt. aud Rob., Tr. Am. Eut. Soc, ii, 77 pr. .syu. 

 1877. Grt., Cau. Ent., ix, 28 pr. syn. 



Dark, smoky browu, outwardly a little darker. Transverse line gem- 

 inate, indistinct, included si)ace concolorous. T. a. line oblique, den- 

 tate, and scalloped. T. p. line nearly upright, crenulate. S. t. line 

 entirely wanting, or so indistinct as to prevent its course being clearly 

 traceable. Claviform barely indicated, never completely outlined. Or- 

 dinary spots well defined, outlined in black, concolorous or powdered 

 with white. Orbicular ovate, longitudinal, rather small; usually con 

 nected with t. a. line by a short spur, and with reniiorm by a narrow 

 dark line. Reniform of the usual shape, but rather small in size. Along 

 the veins of fresh specimens a whitish powdering can be distinctly traced. 

 Secondaries pale, whitish fuscous. Beneath pale, powdery, a distinct 

 dark discal lunule, and an incomplete common line. 



Expands 40-42 '"™, 1.60-1.68 inches. 



Habitat.— United States, except Southern States; Canada. 



Speyer, in comparing this species with the European ravida, dis- 

 covered a curious and apparently unique structure in the 2 . The 

 penultimate segment of the abdomen of the 9 has on each side be- 

 neath, a deep, smooth depression or excavation, very much resembling 

 in shape a denuded shoulder-tippet (patayia). This is peculiar to the 

 species, and though, according to Speyer, indicated in ravida and in 

 some other species, is nowhere so well developed. What may be its 

 object is at present unknown. It is scarcely worth while repeating the 

 observed differences in maculation between this species and its European 

 congener, because the American student will not be under the necessity 

 of making the comparison. Dr. Speyer's paper on " Europa^ische- 

 amerikanische Verwandtschaften " is recommended to the student as 

 worthy of study in these particulars. 



After Speyer's careful studies I should scarcely haveexpected Mr. But- 

 ler to refer our species as a synonym to ravida absolutely without any 

 explanation. I certainly could not accept this dictum, even if the 

 results of my own studies did not absolutely contradict it. Mr. Butler 

 says that in theOrote collection he found a female XahQWi^A A. pastor alis 

 Grt. This may be perfectly correct, but pastoraUs Grt. is an entirely 

 different species from clandestina and the label is erroneously placed. 



