TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



VOLUME XXVI. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD A MONOGRAPH OF THE 

 NOCTUID.E OF BOREAL NORTH AMERICA. 



REVISION OF THE GENUS HYDRCECIA Gn. 

 BY JOHN B. SMITH, SC. D. 



Hydrcecia was first used by Guenee in 1857, in his Essay on the 

 Classification of the Noctuidse, and was applied in a more extended 

 way in the Species General, in 1852. In the latter publication 

 mtcacea was designated as the generic type, and in this sense Lederer 

 defined it more accurately in 1857. Later European writers have 

 in general followed this precedent, and after some shiftings between 

 Apamea and Gortyna, Mr. Grote finally followed their example for 

 our American species. 



Gortyna was proposed by Ochsenheimer in 1816, but not very 

 sharply limited, the type being the European flavago. Hiibner at 

 about the same time used Oehriu for the same species, and Mr. 

 Grote for a time used this term for some of our American forms, 

 which he considered congeneric with the European species. 



Guenee used the term Gortyna for the type species of Oehriu and 

 for a number of others, among them several Americans — and he was 

 followed by Walker. 



Lederer pointed out the difference in clypeal structure between 

 Hydrcecia Gn. and Gortyna Ochs., and sharply defined the two genera. 



Omitting the matter specifically, referring to the European spe- 

 cies, Lederer's characterization is as follows : 



Moderate, plump species, the primaries also sharp pointed, the 



TRANS. AM. KNT. SOC. XXVI. (1) MAY, 1899. 



