no. 1G45. REVISION OF CERTAIN NOCTVIDJE— SMITH. 211 



Altogether I examined 09 males and 91 females and found 14 males 

 and 36 females with spines on the posterior tibiae. I found no sort 

 of relation between locality, date, color, sex, or maculation and the 

 presence or absence of spines, and the only thing that could be said 

 was that the spines on the posterior tibiae were more commonly 

 present in the female than i>i the male. 



No other species was so systematically and fully examined as lunata, 

 but in almost every species where a number of examples were looked 

 at, this same variation in the presence of spines on the posterior tibia 

 was observed. It is not in this series of species a character of even 

 specific value. 



In the male the typical species has the middle femora a little en- 

 larged, inwardly grooved, laterally fringed with hair of variable 

 length and density, forming receptacles which contain masses of 

 specialized scales, sometimes in enormous, sometimes in small quan- 

 tity only. But not all the species referred here are so characterized, 

 and some of them have no trace of this sexual character. 



When the insect has the legs normally held against the breast little 

 is noticeable of this tuft even when it is well developed; but when 

 the leg is removed and the tuft is stirred with a needle, it forms a 

 mass several times as great as the original. The tibia has a small 

 tuft of hair which is not specialized or formed into a definite pencil. 

 In the female there is a fringe of hair to the femur; but it is much 

 smaller than in the male, and there is no contained mass of specialized 

 hair. 



The wings are broadly trigonate and in a general way the sec- 

 ondaries are ornamented much like the primaries. The apex of the 

 primary is distinct or even acute, and the outer margin is more or 

 less dentate or scalloped, this being a variable feature. There is 

 nothing very characteristic about the venation. In the primaries 

 G is from the lower margin of accessory cell, 7 and 8 + 9 are from 

 its end. and 10 is from its upper margin near the tip. On the sec- 

 ondaries the median cell is very short, 3 -\- 4 fork at the end of the 

 median, and 5 is from a short oblique spur, parallel with and quite 

 as strong as 4. 



As thus characterized. Ypsia Guenee does not differ very markedly 

 from Homoptera Boisduval, and I have united the species referred 

 to the latter genus with those treated here. The thoracic tufting is 

 not so well marked and the patagia are not so divergent : otherwise 

 1 find nothing that is of especial importance. The structural details 

 are exactly the same and so are the sexual characters, which will be 

 referred to in more detail presently. 



Phwocyma Hiibner, as based on lunifera Hiibner, is an earlier 

 name for the same conception, and except for the fact that we have 

 a somewhat more slightly built species, there is no structural differ- 



