106 FIEST ANNUAL REPOKT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The Moth. 

 The moth is represented in Fig. 25, It is a stout, robust form, and 

 rather above the average size of the Noc- 

 tuido}. In spread of wings it usually meas- 

 ures between one inch and a half and two 

 inches. The general color of the front 

 t^j wings is brown, with a violet reflection. The 



iiw two transverse bands, inclosing a darker 



Fig. 25. — Nephelodes violans „ , , -, ^ n t 



Guen6e. Natural size. space 01 brown traversed by the median 



band and having in its upper portion in paler color the two ordinary 

 spots, and the subterminal line, are indistinctly visible. All the mark- 

 ings are obscure. The hind wings are brownish, paler at the base. 

 More carefully noticed, the moth presents the following features: — 



The expanse of wings of the male is 1.65 inch ; of the female 2 

 inches. The primaries are broad and stout, triangular, rather squarely 

 cut at the apex, with the spots and lines indistinct. The two transverse 

 lines are visible, of which the anterior (nearest the base) is undulated 

 and arcuated, and the posterior one is rounded over the end of the 

 cell ; between the two is a median shade, rather indistinct. The sub- 

 terminal line is sinuous, angulated on each nervule, and sometimes 

 forming a W on the upper nervules of the median vein as in Hadena. 

 The color of the wings is brown {c1iocolat-au-lait),s,\x^\xBedi with violet, 

 with the space between the transverse lines (except upon the costal 

 and internal margins) deeper brown, especially behind the reniform 

 spot, which is of the usual kidney-shape ; the orbicular spot is round; 

 they are both illy defined, are concolorous with the subterminal space, 

 and are often lost superiorily in the pale costal margin. The fringe is 

 of the same color as the wing. 



The secondaries are obscure gray-blackish in both sexes, of rather 

 uniform shade, but a little paler at the base. The fringe in some fresh 

 examples is reddish-violet. Their underside is of the latter shade with 

 a median line and a lunule in the cell. 



The abdomen is long, stout, carinated, tufted, and robust ; quite 

 large in the female, in which it is cylindrical, and terminates in an ob- 

 tuse point. The thorax is square, stout, hairy, the breast is quite 

 hairy. Legs, with the femora quite hairy, and the tibiae stout, not 

 spined, scaly rather than hairy. The antennge are stout, demi-pecti- 

 nated, i. e. furnished with pubescent teeth, and terminating in a stiff 

 hair in the male ; slender, filiform (with isolated hairs) in the female. 

 Palpi obliquely ascending, the second joint thick, bristling-hairy, the 

 third slender, short but distinct, directed forward. Proboscis short. 



The above description is mainly drawn from the specific characters 

 given by Gruenee, combined with those characterizing the genus, which 



