AMERICAN LEPIDOPTERA. 75 



Acontia neocula n. sp. 



Head, thorax and abdomen white, the latter sometimes with a yellowish tinge. 

 Primaries white from base to an outer, olivaceous gray shade, which begins just 

 within the t. p. line and is outwardly sinuate and narrowed to the costa just 

 within the s. t. line. This white space is unbroken, except for a gray costal 

 cloud at base and over the end of the cell, indicated in three of the eight ex- 

 amples before me. A vague yellowish shading indicates the reniform. There is 

 a quadrate yellowish or olivaceous patch beyond the cell, not very clearly 

 marked, invading the gray space for half its own width. T. p. line indicated as 

 an irregular, pale, slender line near the hind margin. S. t. line slender, white, 

 irregular, very clo.se to outer margin. Terminal space shaded with violaceous. 

 A gray, preceded by a pale, terminal line. Fringes white except at apex. Or- 

 bicular absent. Eenifoi'm traceable only as already stated. Secondaries white, 

 with a narrow, smoky, outer margin, running out at anal angle. Beneath, pri- 

 maries white basally, smoky over the dusky shading on the upper surface. Sec- 

 ondaries white. 



Expands 19-2.5 mm. = .76-1.00 inches. 



ffaft.— Hot Springs, New Mexico, 7000 ft. (Hulst) ; Texas. 



Five males and three females, all very much alike. This is 

 usually confused with cretafa, and it is not impossible that it is a 

 form of that species only. The main distinctive characters are 

 smaller average size, much narrower outer dusky band and almost 

 entire absence of costal shading. The primaries are like those of 

 cretata. In the secondaries 3 and 4 fork at the end of the cell, 5 is 

 decidedly weaker than the others and arises from a spur from one- 

 fourth to one-third of the cell width from the median vein. 



Acoutia cretata Grote and Robinson. 



1868, G. and R., Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, iii, 181, pi. ii. f. 78, Tarache. 



1893. Smith, Bull. 44, U. S. Nat. Mus., 300, Acontia. 

 Head, thorax and abdomen white, the latter sometimes with a yellowish tinge. 

 Primaries white from base to middle of median space, upcurved to the cell, form- 

 ing there a step or jog, above which the reniform is traceable, crossing the cell 

 space on the t. p. line, then again forming a step half way across s. t. space and 

 terminating squarely. The costal portion of basal space is gray mottled, reliev- 

 ing the t. a. line, which is traceable half way across the wing in all but two of 

 my specimens. Another gray cloud is at the inception of the median shade, and 

 this often extends .so as to almost meet the outer gray space. Sometimes the costa 

 is gray to the inception of the t. p. line. Orbicular wanting. Reniform indicated 

 in all examples by the notching of the outer dark space and in some specimens 

 traceable in gray. The median shade line is marked as a curved darker line 

 through the gray outer shading, and within this the shading is more olivaceous 

 or even yellowish. T. p. line slender, blue, very irregular and below the middle 

 with acute outward venular teeth. S. t. line very irregular, white, slender, at 

 the apex marked with metallic-blue scales; the apical space itself usually golden 

 brown tinged. Terminal space very narrow, more or less violaceous. A termi- 

 nal gray, preceded by a white line. Fringes mostly white, except toward apex. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXVII. SEPTEMBEE, 1900. 



