JOHN B. SMITH. 251 



NEW SPECIES OF NOCTUID^E FOR 1910. 



No. 2.* 



BY JOHN B. SMITH, SC.D. 



Because of the accumulation of material, it has been neces- 

 sary for me, recently, to rearrange some of my boxes. At 

 every arrangement there are some specimens that do not fit 

 satisfactorily into any named series, and are yet not so obvi- 

 ously different as to warrant the decision that an undescribed 

 species is in hand. These are usually placed as possible 

 varieties or variations to the form to which they seem most 

 nearly allied, and left until further material is received. Some- 

 times years pass before an odd example is duplicated and, 

 occasionally, around a central species a group of oddities 

 will accumulate until lack of further space makes readjust- 

 ment necessary. 



In the North American species of Euxoa we have, among 

 the Noctuidas, a peculiarly difficult problem. There are a 

 few very well marked species whose standing cannot be 

 questioned, and we have a number of forms more or less 

 constant and more or less local. Every collection from a 

 single locality where large numbers of examples are taken, 

 shows series that obviously belong together and yet vary so 

 greatly that, were they received from different localities and 

 with different dates, would hardly be associated. Almost 

 every such series, however, has some characteristic appear- 

 ance that is often impossible of description in words ; but is 

 readily enough recognized by the eye of experience. 



Sometimes, intermingled with such series, an oddity is 

 discovered ; it does not differ markedly by any one strong 

 character, but it is obviously — to the eye of experience — 

 something that does not belong there. Once separated and 

 with others associated with it, a distinctive habitus becomes 

 clear and a species is fixed. Of course errors occur, for no 



* No. 1, See Journal of New York Entomological Society, XVIII, 

 pp. 85-98. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXXVI. (32*) NOVEMBER, 1910. 



