NO. 1140. NORTH AMERICAN NOCTVIIJAE- SMITH AND DTAR. 



Cliaradra is capable of feediog and has tbe antennae pectinated in 

 both sexes, though shortly so in the female. 



In the genera allied to Acronycta, which may be grouped as Acron- 

 yctini, the secondaries have vein "> weak and arising from the cross vein 

 quite remote from 4, though nearer to it than to G. The character is 

 a;i important one and not merely a greater or less development, which 

 occurs witliin Acronycta: it is a difference of derivation which makes 

 the median vein strictly trifid and 5 really "independent." So far as 

 my present experience goes there is nothing in tlie venation of the 

 Acronyctini that is in any way dittereut from that of the Agrotids or 

 Hadenids, and the tribal term has nothing to maintain it in the adults 

 except a habitus, though it is well based in the larvae according to Dr. 

 Dyar. On the contrary the Fantheini (or even Pantheinae) are sharply 

 differentiated from all those immediately associated with them on adult 

 characters, though they resemble Acronycta in the larval stage. In 

 other words there is no real basis for associating the Pantheid series 

 with the Acronyctid or any other true Noctuid series on adult charac- 

 ters alone, so far as they are now appreciated. 



As subordinate characters in the Acronyctids we have uniformly 

 naked eyes, usually simple antennae in both sexes, and an undescriba- 

 ble Bombycid appearance. 



Four genera are indicated, which may be headed by Acronycta, in 

 which the antennae are simple in both sexes, the tongue useful for 

 feeding in all cases, the i)ali)i fairly well developed, the vestituie liairy 

 or with flattened hair and scales intermixed, and the transverse lines 

 and ordinary spots fairly indicated in all cases. 



ArsUonchc differs in the weak tongue, which is useless for feeding, 

 and in the strigate maculatiou, which leaves no trace of the transverse 

 lines or ordinary spots apparent. The genus is a continuation and 

 intensiflcation of the characteristics of group auricoma, to which it 

 belongs in the early stages. 



Merolonchv is a much more strongly marked offshoot from that same 

 stem. The body is somewhat more robust, the vestituie longer and 

 more shaggy, the head more retracted, the palpi small, the tongue 

 weak, and the antennae shortly pectinated or rather lamellate in the 

 male. In venation and genital structure there is no dei)arture from 

 the normal Acronycta tyi)e. 



Ilarrisimcmna is distinctly aberrant and tends to the Bryophilid 

 series. Its peculiar maculation gives it a somewhat misleading a[)pear- 

 ance, but in venation and in all the essential structural characteis it is 

 a typical Noctuid. The shortly pectinated antennae are out of ])lace 

 in this position, and the scaly vestituie and exaggerated tuftings are 

 totally unlike any of the other forms here associated. It is aberrant 

 in all stages and really stands by itself, with close mimics of it found 

 in the Bryophilid series. In the sexual characters there is an apparent 

 leaning to the Pantheid series, but too little is known of these charac- 



