NO. 1283. BEVISIOX OF SOME NOCTUID MOTHS— SMITH. 163 



blackish on the disk, leaving the margins white. In the male, the leg 

 tuftings are not prominent, the femora fringed inferiorly and one or 

 more pairs of tibife with longer hair, forming no tufts. The male 

 antenupe have single, slightly longer lateral bristles on each joint. 



The male genitalia are quite characteristic, and all the species 

 resemble each other closely in this particular. The harpes are broad 

 at base and broaden to the middle, where they are suddenly narrowed 

 from below, the upper anargin being continuous. Beyond this the}^ 

 broaden again into a rounded, lappet-like tip, the inner side of which 

 is closely set with pointed spines of moderate length. The clasper 

 consists of two processes from the same base; one is cylindrical 

 curved upward, hook- like, with an obtuse tip; the other is bent out- 

 ward and curved downward, rather beak- like in character, the tip 

 usually obtuse. 



While the group itself is thus well delined and rather sharply sep- 

 arated from the others, the species within the group are verj^ closely 

 allied. 



In the first place, comparing all accessible examples of the true 

 European pallens, I do not find any American examples that entirely 

 agree with any of them. The American examples, which 1 term hiteo- 

 paIJe7is, are uniformly less strigate, uniformly brighter, and, on the 

 whole, with whiter secondaries. There is quite a marked difl'erence 

 in the genitalia, comparing five pairs of the American with three pairs 

 of the European form. In the latter the harpes are quite prominently 

 angulate on the superior margin and the upper angle of the tip is 

 quite obviously marked. The spinulation of the inner side is also less 

 abundant and' shorter. The lower clasper is broader and more spatu- 

 late in form than any American specimen. The alliance is close, but 

 as species go in this group luteopaUenH is not the same as pallens. 



The femoral fringes of the male are ver}^ moderate and the hind 

 tibiffi only have a little longer hair fringing above the middle. In this 

 respect jMflens agrees with JnteopaUens, which inhabits the Atlantic 

 coast region. 



Minorata is smaller and darker throughout, the secondaries in par- 

 ticular being blacker on the disk. The primaries have a broader, more 

 stump}^ appearance, due to the comparatively stouter body. In reality 

 minorata is much more closely allied in appearance to ixdlens than is 

 luteojxdlens; and this is also marked in the male genitalia, which are 

 intermediate between those of pollens and luteojpallens^ while really 

 distinct from both. The leg tuftings are much better developed, how- 

 ever, than in luteopallens, especially on the anterior and posterior 

 tibiae, which have an obvious fringing of long hair. 



This species ranges along the Rocky Mountain region from New 

 Mexico northward into British America and to the Pacific coast at 

 Vancouver. 



