NO. 1140. NORTH AM ERW AN NOCTUIDAE— SMITH AND DYAB. 103 



times a little constricted and not marg^ined outwardly. It may have a 

 smoky interior line. The secondaries in the male are white, with the 

 veins a little smoky, and sometimes dotted to indicate an outer trans- 

 verse line. There is a smoky line at the base of the fringes, from 

 which a dirty shading sometimes extends a little toward the base. In 

 the female the secondaries are white at the base; but become blackish 

 outwardly, the wings being dark marked and having the outward line 

 nuich better indicated than in the o[)posite sex. The dark line at the 

 base of the fringes is also much better marked. Beneath whiti.sh, the 

 primaries smoky or at least black powdered, both wings with a more 

 or less distinct outer line and a blackish discal spot. 



Expanse, 1.24 to 1.42 inches (,>1 to 38 nun.). 



Hahiiai. — From Canada southward; west to the Mississippi Valley; 

 Jefferson, New llami)shire; Keene Valley and Long Island, New York; 

 Mount Airy and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri. 



This is a characteristic yet variable si)ecies. The variation does not, 

 however, change the prominent features of the wing and consists rather 

 of a change in the gronnd (;olor from white to quite dark smoky gray, 

 or perhaps better in the amount of the gray shading Avhich overlies the 

 white base. The wing thus gets a mottled or marbled api)earance 

 which is much enhanced by the broad black mark on the middle of the 

 costa, and by the blackish shading along the interior margin. The 

 ui)wai'd extension of this black mark on the transverse anterior line is 

 quite characteristic and is evident in all the specimens. The black 

 shading is really made up of two sepaiate parts, that from the base 

 extending to the transverse posterior line, while a broad bar extends 

 through the submedian interspace from the outer margin inwardly 

 through the transverse posterior line. The front in this species is dis- 

 tinctly bulging, and somewhat intlated, The i)alpi are well developed 

 and reach the middle of the front, the anterior legs are moderately 

 developed, the femur is slender, the tibia (juite stout iu proportion, 

 with the epiphysis above the middle. The harpes are rather broad, a 

 little curved, evenly rounded at tlie tip. The (;lasper is unicjue. It 

 consists of a tlat basal piece which extends from about the middle of 

 the clasi)er to near its tip and then branches, the upper branch being 

 rounded at the tip, the lower being long and pointed. From the base 

 of this tiat piece a very long stout curved process, which is pointed at 

 the tip, extends upward. 



LARVA. 



Harki.s, Ent. Corr., 1869, p. 313, pi. iii, li>r. 3 (rtmej'icanrt).— Lintner, Twenty- 

 sixth Kept. N. Y. State Miis., 1871, p. 13.") (amcricana Harri.s); Twenty-sixth 

 Kept. N. Y. State Mas., 1874, p. 1.57 (fiuieralis). 



Stage VI. — Head large, slightly bilobed, black, coarsely shagreeued; 

 width, 3.4 mm. Body dull sooty black, a transversely elliptical, 

 slightly raised, creamy white patch on each segment from Joints 2 to 13 

 and anal plate, reaching to wart II. The patches on joints 3, 4, 11, and 



