PSYCHE. 



ORGAN OF THE CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB. 



EDITED BY B. PICKMAN MANN. 



Vol. I.] Cambridge, Mass., May, 1875. [No. 13. 



On the relation between European and American 

 Noctuina. 



Dr. A. Speyer gives (Stett. Entom. Zeit., 1875. Jan. — 

 March) the first part of an interesting communication, a report 

 on the general results of which, containing some new and im- 

 portant facts, will perhaps draw the attention of American 

 lepidopterologists to the observation of them in the next sum- 

 mer. The genital appendages were not examined, because the 

 material in Dr. Speyer's hands was not rich enough ; he leaves 

 the examination of those parts to other entomologists. 



Differences in the form are rarely to be found ; most of the 

 differences concern the color, the pattern and the shape of the 

 wings, all of which are most easily affected in local varieties. 

 The palpi and antennas of the males are the next variable 

 characters. 



The most important difference observed by Dr. Speyer con- 

 sists in a slight and even not generally constant modification in 

 the mixture of the predominant colors. 



The predominant colors of the Noctuina are a mixture of 

 black, white and red, also gray and brown, grayish brown or 

 reddish brown. In the American species less red is to be 

 found, and more blackish, in the European less black and more 

 reddish ; these colors are to be observed commonly on the 

 abdomen and the hind wings. The brownish gray of the 

 European species is changed in the American species into pure 

 gray or blackish gray. The reddish hue on the gray underside 

 of the wings in many brown species, chiefly near the veins, is 

 in the American species fainter or wanting. The reddish brown 

 of the dorsum and fore wings changes in the American species 

 into grayish, blackish or bluish. The color of the American 



