66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



and is narrower winged in both sexes. On studying a series of species 

 beginning with cretata, we find a very pretty and gradual development 

 from a perfectly white form, in which the markings are all blotchy and 

 the wings iu the female are very broad, through a very similar type 

 seen in leporina, to a more powdery but still broad-winged form like 

 pojmli, all with only a short basal streak; then a form like lepuscuUna, 

 where all the markings tend to become complete, to Cinderella^ where 

 they are nearly so, to transversata, where the median shade line first 

 becomes distinct throughout its whole course. In this species we have 

 the most completely marked type, and also the narrowest wings in both 

 sexes. There is little variation in the specimens before me, but probably 

 the range is greater than is indicated by my specimens. It is not 

 inconceivable that this is an extreme form of the species just previously 

 described, and there is nothing in the structural characters opposed to 

 that idea. As the material stands now, however, the species is well 

 based, and is recognizable by the characters already enumerated. 



ACRONYCTA TOTA Grote. 



(Plates X, tig. 11, female adult; XVII, fig. 17, leg; XIX, fig. 23, male genitalia.) 

 Apatela tola Grote, North Am. Ent., 1879, I, p. 12; Papilio, 1883, III, p. 69. 



Ground color a very dark blue ash gray, with dense black j^owderings. 

 The basal line is feebly or not at all marked. Transverse anterior line 

 distinct throughout its entire course ; geminate nearly upright, just a 

 little drawn in below the cell. The two parts of the line are quite well 

 separated, leaving the ground color visible between. The median 

 shade is marked on the costa, but not prominent, and is vaguely 

 extended to the reuiform. The transverse posterior line is unusually 

 near the outer margin; is more or less distinctly geminated, the outer 

 line most distinct, while the included space is pale. It is very even, 

 and as a whole n6t very strongly bisiuuate. There is a series of black 

 terminal dots, and the fringes are rather indistinctly marked with 

 smoky. The black basal streak is distinct and extends to the trans- 

 verse anterior line without break. There is no dagger mark or other 

 shade emphasizing the transverse posterior line. The orbicular is small, 

 nearly round, black ringed. The reniform is very large, kidney shaped, 

 completely ringed, and with a dusky inner lunule. The secondaries 

 are white iu the male, smoky in the female, in which sex there is also a 

 distinct discal spot, and a pale outer line running through the smoky 

 exterior part of the wing. Beneath, the wings are whitish, with the 

 usual discal spots and outer line. 



Expanse, 1.28 to 1.40 inches (32 to 35 mm.). 



Habitat. — Texas in March. 



Eight specimens are before me, most of them females, and four of 

 them collected by Belfrage. One specimen is marked Comal County, 

 and is the only one with a definite locality. This species can not very 

 well be mistaken for anything else. It is the smallest in this group, as 



