﻿130 Journal New York Ent. Soc. [Voi. in. 



Nothrus simplex, sp. nov. 



Length .9 mm. Pale yellow-brown Cephalotliorax quite flat, triangular, 

 concave in the middle sides, rounded in front, and with a pair of bristles ; superior 

 bristles quite long ; setK moderate, clavate. Abdomen much depressed, smooth 

 above, with irregular, suallow depressions, truncate at base, gradually growing 

 broader, broadly rounde'i behind ; two simple bristles on margin, one near middle, 

 and one towards the tip ; margin very acute. Venter finely granulate, showing a 

 narrow triangular area which encloses the connate ventral apertures ; the genital one 

 being a little broader than long and slightly narrower behind ; the anal one slightly 

 longer than the genital, nearly twice as long as broad, and much broader at base 

 than at tip ; legs short, the joints thick, with parallel sides, slightly roughened, and 

 with short simple bristles, the coxk separate. 



Readily distinguished by its depressed and simple body, the 

 rounded tip and the few simple bristles. The young are of an obovate 

 form and have a corrugated epidermis; /. e., folded into curved ridges. 

 A {^w specimens shaken from wet sphagnum, Roslyn. N. Y. 



LARVA OF DEMAS PROPINQUILINEA; ITS SYSTE- 

 MATIC POSITION. 



By Harrison G. Dvar, Ph. D. 



Prof. E. B. Poulton has shown that dorsal eversible glands are of 

 general occurrence throughout the larvK of the Lymantriidre (Trans. 

 Ent. Soc, London, 18S7, p. 300) on the tenth and eleventh joints, or 

 rarely only on the eleventh joint {^Dasychira pudibunda). Probably 

 these structures are characteristic of the family, but Prof. Poulton did 

 not find them in Demas. This genus has been considered to belong to 

 the Noctuidse, but English authors assume it to be a Lymantriid. Mr. 

 J. W. Tutt remarks in speaking of Prof. J. B. Smith's recent catalogue 

 of the Noctuidse (Entom. Record, etc., VI., 70), "The obsolete posi- 

 tion of Devias among the Noctuidse is retained." Now is this position 

 "obsolete"? The absence of the retractile tubercles certainly throws 

 doubt on the matter. Now I have shown a characteristic difference in 

 the arrangement of the thoracic tubercles between the Lymantriid ?e and 

 Noctuidffi (Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., XIV, 57) and Demas shows the 

 Noctuid structure. Therefore, on all essential larval characters Demas 

 is a Noctuid. It might, indeed, be an Arctian, as far as the larva goes, 

 but not a Lymantriid. As concerning the structure of the imago, 

 Demas seems to have greater affinity with the Noctuida^ than any 



