42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Transversata is much like the preceding, but there is an evident 

 median shade line crossing- the wing through the outer part of the 

 median space and reaching the inner margin at about its middle. It is 

 the only species so marked in the group and hence easily recognizable. 



Tota is the smallest of this group and unique in its uniform dark 

 blue-gray primaries, and the very distinct, even, geminate transverse 

 anterior line. l>oth parts of the transverse anterior line are equally 

 well marked and they are well separated. There are no dagger marks 

 and the ordinary spots are well outlined. 



The only European member of this group, other than Iqjorinajkuown 

 to me is aceris and its variety eandcliscqua. The sexual structure is in 

 full accord with that of the American sj)ecies, and in superficial appear- 

 ance it is nearest to some of our large specimens of rubricoma, stand- 

 ing somewhat intermediate between that species and amcricana. 



ACRONYCTA RUBRICOMA Guenee. 



(Phitos I, fig. 4, adnlt; VI, figs. 14, 15, larva; XV, tig. 10, liead; XVII, fig. 9, leg; 

 XVIir, fig. 12, tarsal daw; XIX, fig. 10, male genitalia.) 



Acronncfa rnbricoma Guenke, Spec. Geii., Noct., 1852, I, p. 49. 

 Acroni/cta acerico/a Walkek. Cat. Brit. Mu8.,Het., 1856, IX, p. 57. 



The ground color is somewhat Inteous gray; the yellow tinging some- 

 times faintly visible, sometimes very prominent. The head and thorax 

 are powdery, the (;ollar a little darker at the tip, and the edges of the 

 patagiae somewhat dusky tipped, though this is a variable character. 

 The primaries are well powdered with black atoms, which give them a 

 roughened appearance. Sometimes the powdering is quite evenly dis- 

 tributed. Occasionally it is more distinctly massed at the base and 

 a little beyond the transverse posterior line, and quite fre(iuently there 

 is a more or less complete median shade which crosses obliquely from 

 the costa over the reuiform and is rarely traceable below that point. 

 The median lines are geminate, and in well marked specimens they 

 are all distinct. The basal line is also geminate, sometimes marked on 

 the costa only, sometimes distinct to a narrow, blackish, longitudinal 

 line which extends from the base to the transverse anterior line. The 

 transverse anterior line is blackish, as a whole outwardly oblique, and 

 irregularly dentate and lunulate. The transverse posterior line is 

 very strongly lunulated, so that it is outwardly dentate on the veins. 

 The outer part of the line is usually more distinct than the inner, and 

 the included shade is paler than the ground color; sometimes almost 

 white. There is no distinct subterminal line; but sometimes this is 

 indicated by a slight difference in shade in what may be called the 

 terminal si>ace. There is a series of blackish terminal dots beyond which 

 the fringes are cut with brown. The orbicular is round,- of moderate 

 size, ringed with blackish, sometimes with a discal dot and occasion- 

 ally entirely suffused. The reuiform is large, kidney shaped, rather 

 well defined in most specimens, but often obscured by a dusky shade. 



