CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD A MONOGRAPH OF THE NOCTUIDiE OP 

 TEMPERATE NORTH AMERICA. REVISION OF THE SPECIES OF 

 MAMESTRA.* 



BY 



John B. Smith, 



Professor of Entomology, Rutgers College. 



(With Plates viii-xi.) 



Matnestra Oclis. 



Eyes hairy, legs unarmed, tibife not spinose, vestiture scaly. Mod- 

 erate to large-sized species; primaries moderate, varying somewhat in 

 form, usually trigouate and moderately elongate, more rarely stout; 

 stumpy winged ; apices from acute to rounded. Front, palpi, and thorax 

 with usually rather coarse vestiture, the latter with a more or less 

 obvious divided crest, sometimes quite promi uent anteriorly. Abdomen 

 with more or less obvious dorsal tuftings. Antennae of the male ser- 

 rate and bristled, ciliate or entirely simple, rarely in our species pecti- 

 nated. 



It is difficult to distinguish the hairy- eyed genera by separate de- 

 scription ; they must be comparatively described, and even then the 

 absolute differences are so small that the same species has been 

 a Xylomiges and Mamestra or a Twniocampa and Mamestra, and 

 the references could not in any case be very sharply criticized. The 



" LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit for publicatioa the accompanying revision of 

 the genus Mamestra, by Prof. John B. Smith. It is a continuation of the " Contribu- 

 tions toward a Monograph of the Noctijidae of Temperate North America," and was 

 in part prepared while the author was still connected with the Museum, and is based, 

 to a large extent, on the material in the Museum Collection. 



The genus Mamestra is one of the largest and best characterized genera of the 



Noctuidse, and Professor Smith has brought his revision down to date, making it a 



most valuable contribution to American Lepidopterology. Nearly all the species are 



represented in the Museum collection, and with few exceptions the types of the new 



species have been deposited therein, so chat the collection in this genus from North 



America becomes the most complete in the country, if not in the world. 



Respectfully, 



C. V. Riley, 



Hon. Curator of Insects. 

 Prof, G. Brown Goode, 



Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution, 



In Charge of National Museum. 



Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIV— No. 851. 



197 



