﻿THE NOCTUIDAE OF CALIFORNIA II 



BY JOHN D. SMITH, D. SC. 



A chapter on the Hypcninae or, as they are better known the Deltoids of 

 CaHfornia, might be made almost as brief as that traditional one concerning 

 snakes in Ireland. Up to the present time, out of some one hundred described 

 species, less than a dozen are known to occur in California. Personally, I do 

 not believe that this is a correct statement of actual conditions ; for while 

 the bulk of the species are, undoubtedly, members of the boreal and humid 

 transition zones, nevertheless species extend into the arid regions of Arizona 

 and New Mexico, and there seems to be no good reason why the wooded 

 mountain ranges of California should not have a characteristic fauna repre- 

 senting this sub-family. 



The essential characters as stated in the table of sub-families are that 

 the secondaries have vein five as strongly developed as any other ; that it runs 

 parallel to vein four, and that the palpi are more or less prolonged ; either 

 extending sickle-shaped above the head or pointed straight forward like a 

 snout. Elongated palpi occur elsewhere in the Noctuids ; but the Deltoid 

 palpus can be in almost every instance recognized by having the scales 

 pointing upward from the upper surface, forming a sharp edge like the 

 blade of a knife. In the other groups the scales are directed downward, 

 and the back of the knife-blade is up. 



The species are usually slight, never very robust, the vestiture very loosely 

 attached so that it rubs easily, and perfect cabinet specimens are the exception 

 rather than the rule. They vary in their manner of life, but are mostly in- 

 habitants of low vegetation. Some of them come under the head of "Grass 

 Moths" and are started up readily during the day; others fly among the under- 

 brush of open woodland, somewhat like Geometrids, for which they are some- 

 times mistaken. They rarely fly to light in numbers, and only a few of 

 them are attracted to sugar ; which may, perhaps, account for their scant 

 representation in collections. Their larvae vary greatly in habit, some of 

 them feeding normally on foliage, others occurring in ant's nests and among 

 dead and decaying vegetation. One species is associated with the Florida 

 "Gopher" or land tortoise. 



The head is always small but distinct and sometimes even prominent ; 

 front never modified, eyes usually globose, naked, ocelli present in all our 

 forms. A pointed frontal tuft is cjuite usual, especially in those forms in 

 which the palpi are directed forward, snout-like. The thorax is moderate or 

 slight, usually with smooth vestiture, rarely tufted in any way and never promi- 

 nently so. The abdomen is rather long, cylindric, smoothly scaled, with a 

 series of small dorsal tufts in the Hypenid series only. There are three 

 series or tribes in the sub-family, distinguishable as follows : 



Palpi slender, u])curved along the front ; anterior femora of the male 

 thickened at base, else the leg normal Hcliini 



