102 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
a development of tarsal spines; but I do not know a case where 
hairy eyes and spinose tibia are combined. The character is a 
strictly structural one. 
In some series of species, the eyes, while they are naked, are 
furnished at the lateral margins with a series of longer, over- 
hanging hair or “lashes.” This character is one that is largely 
associated with xylinoid forms, and has some value, in certain 
cases, to emphasize other structures. It is, however, subject to 
variation, and it sometimes becomes matter of opinion as to 
whether an eye is or is not lashed. The character is, therefore, 
a subordinate one. The shape of the eye itself is of considerable 
importance. Usually they are round and convex, hemispherical 
in appearance; but in many forms they become narrowed, and 
sometimes reniform. Examples are found in Anarta and in cer- 
tain heliothid genera. The character is usually associated with a 
comparatively small, often retracted head, and with a coarse, 
divergent, sometimes hairy vestiture. The change from round to 
narrow or reniform is sometimes quite gradual; but the character 
is often useful for distinguishing genera otherwise ill-defined. 
The structure of the palpi is subject to great variation, and many 
of these are of generic importance. 
In the Deltoid genera, for instance, the difference between 
forms like Hypena and forms like Zanclognatha or Helia is suffi- 
ciently marked to be made use of. The tongue in Noctuids is 
usually well developed, but occasional forms are found in which 
it is obsolete, or so small and weak as to be of no functional 
importance. ‘This character is of generic value always, since it 
indicates a change in the entire nutritive system. It is usually 
accompanied by a reduction in size of head, and by feebly 
developed palpi. Quite frequently, too, the antenne will be 
remarkably well developed or strongly pectinated in the male. In 
other words, the character indicates a bombyciform habitus. The 
frontal modifications also afford good characters. Mr. Butler 
refers to a hairy clothing of the front (Entom. 27), as if I had 
claimed generic value for such a character; but this is an error. 
The frontal characters referred to are found in the form of 
roughenings, protuberances of various forms, and plate-like pro- 
cesses. Iam well aware that, in coprophagous Coleoptera for 
instance, such processes are of not even specific importance; but 
in the Lepidoptera they have a very high value. Frontal modi- 
fications are quite usually associated with endophytes like 
Nonagria and some of the Heliothids, and yet more usually with 
more or less heavily armed fore tibiw. In fact, in the very great 
majority of cases where I find a clypeal modification in a species 
pe an endophyte, I expect to find also an armature of the fore 
tibia. 
In the American fauna our Western States furnish a very 
great number of forms in which clypeal modifications and armature 
