24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



useful for feeding. Palpi short and weak, hardly extending beyond 

 the front so as to be visible from above. Antennae in the male rather 

 short, lengthily pectinated ; in the female, longer, very shortly pectinated. 



Thorax fairly developed, almost quadrate, clothed with vestiture com- 

 posed of flattened hair and scales, forming an indefinite little truncated 

 posterior tuft. The collar and j)atagiae are distinct. The legs are well 

 developed and of almost normal noctuid proportion to each other, 

 though small in proportion to the insect. They are clothed with rather 

 long hair, ami are unarmed save for the usual spurs, which are short 

 and weak. 



Abdomen little or not at all exceeding the anal angle of the second- 

 aries in the male, and not greatly exceeding it in the female. It is 

 more or less conic in the male, more cylindrical in the female, and in 

 both with a series of dorsal scale tufts which are very easily removed. 



Primaries of good size, trigouate, and yet with a rather stumpy 

 appearance, which is most strongly seen in disjnil.sa. The costal margin 

 is hardly one-third longer than the inner, which is strongly curved 

 toward base. The venation is quite normal. 



Secondaries proportionate. Vein 5 quite as strong as the others and 

 arising close to 4. 



Altogether this is a strongly marked genus with an abundance of 

 distinctive characters, not the least of which are the pectinated anten- 

 nae of the female. 



The genitalia of the male are of the same general type, with quadrate 

 harpes, a long upper and a shorter lower clasper. They are quite 

 complicated, however, and very different from each other; hence need 

 not be further discussed here. 



Three species occur, and of these I do not know decora Morrison. I 

 have never seen the type nor d-o I know where it is. No collection 

 known to me has a named specimen, and I suspect, from the description, 

 that the insect ck)es not belong to this series at all. The "siu)ple" 

 antennae — it is not stated whether of male or female — will serve to 

 exclude it from this genus. 



Deridens is somewhat the larger of the two species known to me, 

 and has the markings black and sharply defined. The median lines 

 are centrally connected and the ordinary spots are black centered. 



JJispidsa is much i)aler and has a washed-out appearance. The 

 median lines are slender and not in any way connected, while the ordi- 

 nary spots are vaguely yellow and without trace of any dark centering. 



In tabular form the two species appear so: 



ANALYTICAL KEY TO THK SPECIES OF CHARADRA. 



Markings bLack, sharply defiqed; median lines connected centrally; ordinary spots 

 l)laek centered deridenx. 



Markings lihickisb, not sharply defined nor contrasting; median lines not connected, 

 ordinary spots yellowish, not dark centered dis^julsa. 



