AMERICAN LEPIDOPTERA. 235 



shade is met with which does not exclude the mossy green, excei:)t in 

 the smallest example, where it must be sought for closely. We have 

 almost the exact counterpart now of the New England examples in 

 appearance, and differentiation might be difficult were it not for the 

 fact that the male organs come to our assistance. The harpes are 

 much the same, but the clasper becomes a long, very slender, curved 

 hook, very unlike the short, stout, blunt process in olivacea. We 

 have therefore a good species which I caWpetita, and which repre 

 sents typical olivacea on the Pacific Coast. 



The eighth and last series is represented by five males and two 

 females, and is what Mr. Grote named comis. All the males are 

 from Vancouver: Livingston, August 10, '96; Corfield, September 

 7, '95 ; Nanaimo, July 1, '92. One female is from Livingston, Van 

 couver, July, 22, '96 ; the other is from Soda Springs, California, 

 September 25th. The latter specimen is from the Henry Edwards' 

 collection, and is interesting because it bears a label, in Mr. Grote's 

 handwriting, " Mamestra olivacea Morr " ! I do not consider Mr. 

 Grote's failure to recognize the female of his eornis as distinct from 

 that of olivacea at all surprising or to his discredit; it simply shows 

 how very similar the two species really are. The male is quite as 

 similar to true olivacea as is the female, as my own failure to recog 

 nize their difiference shows. In maculation there is no difference ; 

 but the s. t. space is a very pale, almost whitish gray, and the green- 

 ish, mossy shading toward the inner margin is dull, without trace of 

 yellowish. The ba.sal space is also green marked, especially in its 

 lower portion. The tendency is to a broad green shade from base 

 along inner margin to the t. a. line; upward along this to the me- 

 dian vein, then beneath this to the base or place of beginning. 

 Variation consists in the relative distinctness or obscurity of this 

 shading which is perfectly pre.sent in one of the females. The most 

 obvious character, however, is the tendency to discoloration in the 

 reniform. It is whitish filled, without dark centre, and therefore 

 unlike the typical olivacea. 



The male genitalia are on two slides and confirm the separation 

 of the species, albeit the differences are not great. The harpes offer 

 little that is characteristic ; the clasper is more curved than in oliva- 

 cea, and is drawn out into a long point, instead of being bluntly 

 terminated. 



To divide what we have so long known as olivacea into eight 

 separate species seems at first like a bad case of unjustifiable s])lit- 

 ting ; but it must be remembered that three of the species — com/.*, 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXVII. JUNE. 1901. 



