370 COTTON PLANT. 



I have carefully examined the contents of the box which 

 accompanied your letter. It contained several cotton moths, 

 which are much injured, but as far as I am enabled to judge by 

 their remaining characters, they constitute a new species, of which 

 I have made the following description : 



NOCTUA Fabr. 



N. xylina. — Olivaceous, tinged with vinaceous; superior 

 wings with a black spot. [814] 



Description. — Head vinaceous, with a small whitish tuft before : 

 antennae pale honey-yellow, of moderate length, covered with 

 scales above and short hair beneath : labrum rounded, small : 

 mandibles conic, whitish, with a fascicle of sericeous fulvous hair 

 on the inner base : maxillae as long as the antennse, papilaceous 

 towards the tip : palpi densely covered with short, equal scales, 

 which are intermixed rufous and white ; second joint much 

 longer than the first; third joint very distinct, conic, linear; 

 thorax vinaceous with more or less of olivaceous, particularly 

 on the sides : superior wings vinaceous towards the posterior 

 margin obsoletely olivaceous; a little above and partly on the 

 second bifurcation of the post costal nervure is an oblique sub- 

 oval, blackish spot, in which are paler scales, forming almost a 

 double pupil : posterior to this spot is an obsolete, much undu- 

 lated, interrupted, dull rufous line, reaching the anal margin 

 near the middle and the costal margin at two-thirds the distance 

 from the humerus : behind this line is a distinct one, and in 

 some specimens a still less distinct one towards the base of the 

 wing, accompanied by a small spot : inferior wings on the inferior 

 page with a slight, slender, rufous band : anterior tibiae with a 

 spine : posterior tibiae with spines on the middle and tip : claws 

 distinct, emarginate beneath. 



Length to tip of superior wings nine-tenths of an inch. 



Larva sixteen-footed, spotted ; eyes spotted : beneath immacu- 

 late, simple. Pupa simple, dark chestnut or blackish ; three of 

 the abdominal segments with dilated, rufous, posterior margins. 



In the above description, if any errors occur as regards color, 

 you can rectify them from more recent and perfect specimens. 

 With these moths a single individual occurs of the Noctua Iota 



