112 BULLETIN i«, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



interrupted, preceded by undetined bluish lunules in the interspaces. 

 Ill the male the apex is blue powdered, the terminal space else quite 

 even. In the female the apical j)atch is more contrasting, iuferiorly 

 limited by a blackish streak, the terminsd space being irregularly and 

 variably mottled with bluish brown and black. Opposite the hind 

 angle is a longitudinal black mark, which crosses the subterminal line. 

 Usually a narrow black line connects the median lines in the subme- 

 dian interspace, and another connects the ordinary S))ots, which are 

 much reduced and marked by black elevated scales. The basal space 

 is also sometimes blue powdered or iuferiorly Ijrown. In the male the 

 ordinary spots are sometimes hardly evident. Secondaries deep smoky- 

 brown, varying a little in tinge towaid brown or black. Beneath, uni- 

 forndy brown or blackish; the secondaries with a more or less evident 

 discal spot. 



Expanse of wings, 1*7 to 34 mm. = 1.10 to 1.3.5 inches. 



Habitat. — Nova Scotia to Texas; east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 June to October. 



This is our most abundant species, and in some respects a most vari- 

 able one. When the sexes are separated, however, the range of varia- 

 tion in each is much reduced, and is usually a difference in the amount 

 of contrast, rather than in actual maculation. The species is easily 

 recognized by the characters already given. The subterminal line in 

 its course and the elevated scales marking it are characteristic. 



Genus HYPENA, Schnink. 



1802. Schrauk, Fauua Boica, II, 2, 163. 



1851. Gueuoe, Species General, Deltoides, 25. 



1857. Lederer, Noctiiinen Euri)i)a.s, 214. 



18.59. Walker, Cat. Brit. Mns., Le]). Ileterofera, XVI, 22. 



Head moderate in size or small, front narrow, with an unusually long 

 interantennal tuft, sometimes exceeding the head by its own length. 

 Eyes i^rominent, globose, naked. Ocelli distinct, situated close to the 

 compound eye, at about the middle of the vertex. Palpi long or very 

 long, sometimes exceeding the head by more than the length of the 

 head and thorax combined, similar in the sexes, directed straight for- 

 ward, greatly compressed, the upright vestiture unusually long, even 

 on the terminal joint. The second Joint in some of the species is a little 

 arquate, the concavity inferior. Antenna' simple in the female, slightly 

 ciliated in the male. Body slight; thorax small; abdomen reaching to 

 or exceeding the anal angle of the secondaries, with quite a i)rominent 

 dorsal tuft at base, and smaller tuftings on 3 or 4 other segments. 

 Legs long and slender, closely scaled, not specially modified, the usual 

 tibial spurs long and unequal. Wings large, i)rimaries long and nar- 

 row, the apices pointed, outer margin oblique or obtusely produced at 

 the middle, a little excavated below the apex. Secondaries proportion- 

 ately very large and broad, the outer margin a little excavated below 

 the apex. There is no difl'ereuce in essential structure between the 



