eee 
(aon 2° 
XIII. On the genus Sypna of Guénée ; a group of Lepi- 
doptera of the tribe Noctuites. By Arruur G. 
Borner, FL58., F.Z.S8.,. de. 
[Read June 1st, 1881.] 
THE genus Sypna was founded by M. Guénée in the 3rd 
part of his ‘ Noctuélites’ (Hist. Nat. des Insectes, Lépi- 
doptéres, Vol. vii., p. 144), for the reception of a single 
Indian species, S. omicronigera. 
In his ‘ Catalogue of Lepidoptera-Heterocera,’ Walker 
correctly identified the genus (although at the time we 
did not possess the typical species), and added descrip- 
tions of three new forms under the names of 8. sub- 
signata, albilinea, and celisparsa; in the same volume, 
however, Walker described a certain genus Tavia (see 
p. 1275) with two species, 7’. instrwens and T. substruens, 
and his subsequent inability to recognise the characters 
of this his own genus has hitherto robbed Sypna of 
not a few species which should by right be referred 
to it. 
In the ‘ Supplement’ to his Catalogue, Walker adds the 
description of a Sypna lugens from Ceylon, which is not 
a Sypna at all, or anything like one, but is identical with 
Achea reversa of Walker (Cat. Lep. Het. xiv., p. 1899) ; 
and then in the next two or three pages he describes five 
species as referable to Tavia, viz., T'’. punctosa, T. dubi- 
taria, T’. caliginosa, T. albilinea, and T’. submarginata, 
all of which are true Sypne ; he has thus been the means 
of misleading subsequent workers who have added more 
Sypne to Tavia, giving one the impression that the two 
genera must be extremely closely allied, whereas Sypna 
is a group of Hrebide, similar in pattern and general 
coloration, as a rule, to Mormo; and Tavia on the other 
hand is in part identical with Speiredonia, a genus of the 
family Ommatophoride, T’. substruens being conspecific 
with S. feducia of Stoll. 
Tavia, therefore, will have to be restricted i in future to 
the African species, and should, in my opinion, be placed 
next to Latebraria. 
TRANS. ENT. soc. 1881.—paRT II. (JULY.) 
