172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



ber of openings, no two species being quite alike. Then there is a 

 broad chitinous plate from the upper outer angle of which come two 

 processes. One is long, curved, beak-like, pointed at tip, and extends 

 downward; the other is short, cylindrical, and extends upward over 

 the base of the first. Sometimes a third process comes from the lower 

 outer angle of the plate and sometimes the inner inferior angle is 

 obtusely extended. In some species a flattened process extends over 

 the chitinous plate from the thickened upper margin, and this may or 

 may not be perforated. 



The species of this series are not difhcult to separate if both sexes 

 are at hand. A male can be placed without difficulty at all times, and 

 a good female may be generally determined by the tables so nearl}^ as 

 to make identification easy from the descriptions. 



Two main, though unequal, divisions may be based on maculation, 

 though they r.re not entirel}^ natural. In the majority of the species 

 the median vein on the primaries is white, in whole or in part, and 

 along this vein, above or below, or on both sides, is a black or 

 smoky line or shade extending to at least the end of the cell. While 

 this character is very unequally developed, it is at least obvious in 

 every reasonably good example, and separates the species possessing it 

 from the smaller series, in which, while the vein may be white, or at 

 least pale, there is no defining shade or line. Such species as lack the 

 defining shade have no obvious maculation of any kind and are almost 

 uniform, except for the slight differences between the interspaceal 

 streakings and the veins. 



In the first series multilinea stands alone, because in the male the 

 anterior tibiae are most heavil}^ tufted with dense masses of discolored 

 hair and scales capable of expansion. The antenna also, in this sex, 

 have longer lateral cilias than in any other species. It is a medium- 

 sized or small form, the primaries light yellow, prominent!}^ streaked 

 in the interspaces, and the collar white, distinctly banded. The sec- 

 ondaries are white, scarcely soiled even in the female. The transverse 

 posterior line is usualh" reduced to two small black dots, and this, in 

 combination with the white secondaries, prominent streakings, and 

 small size, will differentiate the species even in the female. 



In all the other species of this group, as well in the second as in the 

 first division, the middle leg is the one most obviously tufted in the 

 male. But this character varies greatl3^ and in a few instances there is 

 only a marked thickening of the vestiture, rather than a l)rush or tuft. 



Commoides and phragrnatidicola have the sexual tuftings most 

 prominent, and, in addition to the dense mass of vestiture on the middle 

 tibia, that member is somewhat shortened and the outer spur is flattened 

 and curved, the tip acute. 



Commoides is a ver}^ stout, reddish-streaked form, with smoky- 

 brown secondaries, and this differentiates the species at once from 



