56 lepidoptera. 



Form of the Male Genital Organs. 



After the discovery of the extraordinary differences in the 

 ovipositors of Sc. Wahlbomiana. and Sc. minusculana, I 

 was anxious to examine also the genital organs of the male 

 specimens. But these offer only very slight differences, as 

 I will shortly explain, and are by no means adapted to serve 

 as characters by which to recognize the species, as can be 

 done by means of the form of the ovipositor. 



The males of Sciaphila possess, as usual in the Lepi- 

 doptera, at the end of the abdomen three horny flaps, an odd 

 one above in the middle, and a pair, one on each side (called 

 forceps). Where the two latter unite beneath, the penis is 

 inserted; beneath the upper flap is the anal opening. These 

 flaps are thickly scaled externally, and usually more or less 

 withdrawn within the last abdominal segment. One can 

 very easily force them out for investigation in fresh speci- 

 mens by pressure on the abdomen, when they become pro- 

 truded and opened. In dried specimens one can generally 

 make them visible by denuding the scales from the end of 

 the abdomen with a camel's hair pencil. 



Now in Sc. minusculana, ZelL, the upper genital flap is 

 rather quadrangular, convex on the upper surface, with the 

 corners of the hinder margin more or less pointed and pro- 

 truding. In the middle of its hinder margin arises a long, 

 thin, horny hook, which is curved downwards. The entire 

 flap is generally coloured pale brown, seldom darker. The 

 side flaps (forceps) are elongate, quadrangular, rounded at 

 the hinder end and rather curved upwards; they are more 

 skin-like, pale yellow, at the upper edge entirely, but at the 

 lower edge only at the basal half, margined with a narrow, 

 brown bordering of horn. In one solitary male in my collec- 

 tion, which, according to all the other characters, belongs to 



