106 NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



Among my examples of .Argenteoinaculat'us, six in number, is one from Lake Superior which agrees almost exactly with Grote's 

 figure, exce])ting that the white spot nearest the inner margin is much larger, in fact, larger than in any other example I have ever 

 seen, being fully one-tenth of an inch at its greatest diameter; the posterior wings also are darker than Grote's description would lead 

 us to infer those in his type of Qudriguttatus were. Another example, captured in Hunter Co., X. Y., is entirely devoid of all the silver 

 .spots; there is in this examjile cc^n-iderable ditierence in the arrangement of the bands, etc., of primaries from the one from Lake 

 Superior. Several others from Himtcr County agree in the general markings with the one just alluded to, but have the usual silver 

 sjjots the same size as and some larger than in Grote's figure; the po.sterior wings of the difl'erent examples vary in depth of colour from 

 pale salmon or fawn to smoky-grey, and the sub-apical and apical marks are either very distinct, half obsolete or entirely wanting, and 

 I much fear that, if Grote's assumed species be distinct from Harris', I possess at least three more new and undescribed allied species! 



Aectia Anna, Cirote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila., II, p. 335, T. 8 (1863), is, without doubt, a melanotic variety of Arctia Persephone, 

 I. c, p. 60 ; varieties with black wings are of not uncommon occurrence among the Arctians ; I have seen them of Caja, Figurata, Lena, 

 Virginalis and Plantaginis. 



Akgynnis Leto, Behr, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sc. (1862), I hold to be a western form of A. Cybde, Fabr., as also may be A. Nokomis, 

 W. H. Edwards, but this latter I have not yet had sufficient opportunity to examine in nature, to speak of with any certainty. An 

 analogous case is presented in Argynnis AlexaTidra, Men., which is an aberrant Asiatic form of A. Aglaia, Linn. 



Catocala Concumbexs, Walker. I have previously remarked the clo.«e affinity of this species with the Russian O. Pacta, L. 

 <on p. 40) ; this latter, except that it is smaller and has the abdomen rosy, resembles very closely our species. My friend, Mr. Paul 

 Knetzing, sent me this winter, from Montreal, Canada, an example of Concumhens which, to my unbounded astonishment, has the abdo- 

 men rose-red, precisely like the himl wings, thus making its resemblance to Pacta almost perfect. I received al.so, about the same time, 

 from Canada, another example wiUi the abdomen re sy, but mi.xed with grey; and my friends, the Messrs. Pearson, write me from 

 Montreal that they have likewise an example "with the body red, just like the Pacta which you sent us." Tlie red-bodied Concumbenx 

 which I received difler in no other point whatever from the onlinary form, which is seldom subject to any variation. 



Catocala Simulatilis, Grote, is, as its author evidently mistrusted, Obscura ?. I here insert his description, published in 

 advance sheets of Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. : 



"This species is intimately related witli C. obscura, somewhat as C. residua with C insolabilis. C. residua has blackish fringes, the 

 general color of the primaries is dusky ashen, without the linear deepening in color above internal margin of C. insolabilis, while the 

 whitish gray subterminal shade contrasts with the dusky tone of the wing. This species has also a black oblique eubapical shade beyond 

 the subterminal line, more or less distinctly following the teeth of the line and api^arent sometimes within the line, following the two 

 prominent teeth of the t. p. line. This black shading is wanting in C obscura a,nd C simvlatilis, which agree in the general smoky ashen 

 primaries and the white fringes to the hind wings, but may be separated by the course of the t. p. line. This, in C simiilatili's, is nuich 

 as in C. residua and the other species, wilh two very i)rorainent teeth and wide open subreniform, whereas, in C. obscura the line is more 

 perpendicular and presents a series of fine teeth. The resemblance is otherwise so great between the two that other comparison or 

 ■description seems unnecessary. Since I only know males of C obscura and females of C. simvlatilis, I thought that my specimens of the 

 latter might belong, as the opposite sex, to C. obscura. Such a sexual difference would be quite new and unusual, and I cannot now be 

 blamed for not adopting such a determination." 



And under the circum.stances I wonder the author descrilied his species at all ; lie worked on entirely too scant material, and lays 

 by far too nuich stress on the peculiarities of his " t. p. lines." At present are before me thirty examples of 0. Obscura, jf ? , including 

 tlie original types ; one of these, a male, has the sub-reniform almost closed, all the others have it open, some widely so, others more 

 moderately; the "t. p. line" is, in 14 examples, 5 (^^ 9 $, with two very prominent teeth, in 16 examples, (J'^, with only one promi- 

 nent tooth, like in the figure on PI. Ill ; so this ceases, at any rale, to be " a sexual diflerence." As to the perpendicularity of the lines, 

 in different examples they appear to be like in a battalion of country militia — each one varying in position ; in some Instances the t. p. 

 line and t. a. line are almost conffuent at the inner margin, and in one instance quite so. As to general colour of primaries, it varies 

 much, in some instances being almost black, especially on the area interior to the sub-terminal line. 



C. Residua, Grote, is only a common form of C. Insolabilis, Guenee, which is a species that varies much in the depth of ground 

 colour of primaries, and in the dark shading of their inner margin. 



In describing Catocalse, too nmch weight has been attached by Mr. Grote to whether the sub-reniform be open or closed, also to 

 the breadth of the bands of secondaries, and to whether the mesial extends to the abdominal margin or not ; the following will show how 

 utterly valueless would be diagnoses founded on these points : 



In twelve examples of C. Subnata I find two males and three females with the sub-reniform open, and four males and three females 

 with it completely closed, and in twfj it is entirely isolated from the transverse posterior line ; yet Grote made the open sub-reniform 

 one of the specific characteristics of this species. Out of six examples of C. Pio(n>, two have the sub-reniform ojien and four closed. 

 The same also in C. Cerogama. In four C'. Unijuga, one has the sub-reniform open, a second has it closed but connected with the trans- 

 verse posterior line, the other two have it entirely isolated. I have also examijles of C. Fraiini, C ]'iduala, C. Desperata and C. 

 Agrippina, in some of each of which the sub-reniform is closed, and in others open. Twenty-two examples of C. Potejama display great 

 Variation in the width of the black bands, in some instances they being twice as wide as in others. In C. Parta, C. Nupta and C Elocala 

 the same wide difference in width is displayed, and in these species in some examples the mesial band extends to the abdominal margin ; 

 in others it does not reach it within almost one-fourth of an inch. 



MEAGRE DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES; TO BE FOLLOWED IN A SUBSE- 

 'qUENT PART BY WHAT IS INFINITELY BETTER— GOOD REPRESENTATIONS. 



Sphinx Plota, Nov. Sji. 



Male. Flxpands 3-> inches. 



Head and thorax rather light browuish-grey. Tegula> edged outwardly with white, inwardly by a dark-brown line, also a brown 

 line in middle, parallel to that of edge. Abdomen same light brownish-gi'ey as tlujrax, with a narrow black dorsal line, seven short 

 black bands on each side, the spaces between which are dirty white, beneath jiale brownish-grey, almost white. 



Primaries same colour as thorax, with a rather short longitudinal line in each cell; an apical line; a submarginal black line 

 accompanied inwardly by another, broader but not so dark in colour, a black spot at base of wing; all these lines, etc., are accompanied 

 more or less with whitish streaks or patches. Secondaries greyish, with dark-brown submarginal and mesial bands. 



L'nder surface greyish-brown. 



I might have made shorter work with the above by simply saying that this species was between Chersis and Kalmia;; it is neither 

 blue as the one nor reddish .'is the otlier, and it has more markings on the primaries than either, giving them an appearance somewhat 

 like Etlema Harrisii, but on a larger scale. 



