112 GEO. D. HULST. 



ample, a correspondent in central Texas has collected Mici'olepid- 

 optera for me for two or three years, and from him I have received 

 over fifty species ; these were all collected at light only. Very nearly 

 one-half of all our species have been taken in Texas. The grassy 

 plains of the central portion of the United States are, by necessity, 

 poor in species. The great wooded country of the Northwest has 

 been to a very little extent explored, but will probably be found a 

 comparatively rich field for the collector. 



As compared with the European fauna as found in Standinger's 

 List, and the recent descriptions of Mr. Ragonot, our fauna will be 

 found to be comparatively very rich. The fauna of all Eurojie, 

 Northern, Western and Central Asia and Northern Africa, includes 

 about four hundred and fifty species, of which nearly half have been 

 very recently described. As yet only about two hundred species have 

 been described from North America, but very little collecting has 

 been done, and when the field is as Avell explored as that of Europe 

 we shall probably have a much larger number of species than has 

 been found in the European fiiuna. Comparatively our fauna is 

 much richer than is that of P^urope in the Crambid s[)ecies, and 

 very much poorer in general in the species with tufted maxillary 

 palpi, especially those that have seven veins only in the hind wings. 



It is impossible as yet to make nuich of a compari-son of the va- 

 rious faunae comprised in North America. There is a [)retty definite 

 division into the Eastern, extending to the plains west of the Mis- 

 .souri ; the Rocky Mountain, including Texas and New Mexico; 

 and the Pacific, including Arizona. Southern Florida, has its own 

 fauna, but is West Indian rather than North American. The fiiuna 

 of mountainous Mexico is almost unknown. There seems to be no 

 definite Arctic fauna ; the species so far as I know them are simply 

 the reumants of species found further south, and they are few in 

 number. The family in North America is essentially a family of the 

 hot arid table lands. 



DETERMINATION OF GENERA. 



In determining the genera following, I have rested in all cases 

 possible upon a personal examination of the species recognized as the 

 type of the genus. In both genera and species I have given the 

 exact description of the author as fiir as possible, and have made 

 changes only as they were found not to agree with the type species, 

 or as they were incomplete. In the most of cases two or more speci- 



