198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE , NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



to obsolescence, that just below the tip being- broadest. AnttM-ior crest 

 and patag-ijie sometimes a little speckled with blackish scales. Prima- 

 ries more or less obviously strigate, the veins white or whitish, inter- 

 spacial narrow lines ranging from dull luteous to smoky or even 

 })lackish. Median vein obviously white, bordered on each side by a 

 smok}' or blackish shading, that lieneath being the more prominent. 

 At the end of the vein the white enlarges as it includes the base of the 

 branches and here a ])lack dot precedes and a l^lackish or smoky shade 

 follows the branching, thus extending- for a little distance the dark 

 shading below the median vein, A vague triangular cloud is on the 

 outer margin above vein 4, extending to the apex, and a somewhat 

 lighter shading extends from base through the cell, obliquely to the 

 apex itself. A series of small black terminal dots is obvious in most 

 specimens. Secondaries white or whitish, sometimes with a yellowish 

 tinge, with a narrow smoky outer border and a series of terminal 

 black dots, which, as a rule, are best marked where the smoky shading- 

 is ))est. Beneath, primaries creamy or reddi.sh, powdery, tending to 

 smoky on the disk; secondaries white except over the costal region, 

 where it is creamy and somewhat powdery. 



Escpanse. — 1.28 to 1.52 inches (32 to 37 mm.). 



irabitat. — Canada to Florida, to Texas, to California; Iowa; Min- 

 nesota; Illinois. The dates cover everj"^ month from March to October, 

 inclusive. 



This is one of the most widely distributed, and, in a certain way, 

 the most varia])le of the species. There are, obviously, two broods in 

 the Middle Atlantic States, adults appearing- in May and June and 

 again in August and September. New Jersey specimens are before 

 me for every month from May to October. In Florida and Texas the 

 early dates are in March. Los Angeles, California, specimens are 

 dated April. 



Nearly fort}^ examples are under inspection and in such variety that 

 it would seem certain that they could be arranged in series of distinct 

 forms, but I have failed on all bases tried. 



Some specimens are almost creamy yellow, without contrasts, the 

 median vein hardly white, its blackish border hardly traceable. The 

 primaries seem broader, the margins subparallel. Another series is 

 obviously gray, with or without a reddish shade, the strigation obvious, 

 the markings over the median vein conspicuous. Here the wings seem 

 more trigonate and the apices more pointed. Then comes a series in 

 which the primaries seem longer and narrower, the body slighter, color 

 decidedly reddish fawn, the median dusky streak unusually prominent, 

 and extending almost to the transverse posterior line; but when these 

 extremes are carefully separated out, the remaining forms block out 

 every gap and leave us with one series only. The differential points 

 have been elsewhere brought out. 





