NO. 1140. NORTH AMERICAN NOCTUIDAE— SMITH AND DY Alt. 141 



shorter dagger mark extends inwardly from the subterminal line 

 between veins 5 and C, but does not in any case reach the transverse 

 posterior line. In some specimens there are traces of a claviform. 

 Ordinary spots fairly evident; the orbicular large, round or oval, gen- 

 erally paler but with a dark center; reniform upright, large, a little 

 constricted at the middle; it may or may not be marked with yellowish, 

 and in some cases there is a slight yellowish tinge through the cell. 

 Secondaries smoky in both sexes, hardly darker in the females. 

 Beneath yellowisli, more or less powdery, with an outer line and discal 

 spot variably marked. 



Expanse, l.liO to 1.00 inches (30 to 40 mm.). 



Habitat. — Canada to Arizona and Texas; New Hampshire in May; 

 Kittery Point, Maine, in June; Massachusetts in May; central New 

 York in .Tune. 



Mr. Butler has referred this species to hamamelu Guenee; but he has 

 evidently confused what Mr. Grote separated as haesitata with the true 

 hamamelis. Guence's description of clarcsccns api)lies perf(!ctly to 

 haesitata, and this author pointed out very clearly tlie difference 

 between this si)ecies and his hamamelis. , This species seems also to 

 have been bred by some collectors from larvae which they did not dis- 

 tinguish from those of hamamelis, and the contention is, as a rule, that 

 the species are the same; but there are a series of characters which 

 always suffice to separate claresecns from any hamamdis that 1 have 

 ever seen. In the first place this species is always a paler ashen gray. 

 It is always more smoothly and eveidy marked, and is never so com- 

 pletely obscured by the dusky i)Owderings. The transverse anterior 

 line is never completely filled with dark scales, as is the rule in hama- 

 melis. There is an approach, however, to this in some specimens, 

 where the line becomes emphasized in the middle of its course. In 

 hamamelis I have not seeu any specimen in which there was a dagger 

 mark through the subterminal line in the submedian interspace, while 

 except in one instance this dagger mark is evident everywhere in 

 clarescens. In general structure there is no difference as compared 

 with the other species; but the anterior femur is rather more dilated 

 toward the base than is usual, and there is a rather abrupt narrowing 

 toward the base; otherwise it agrees with the other species. 



ACRONYCTA HAMAMELIS Guenee. 



(Plates II, figH. 1,2, :s, adults; XII, fig. 12, female adult; XVIII, Hg. li, palpus; XXI, 



fig. 28, male genitalia.) 



Acronycta hamamelia Gueni^ik, Spec. Gen., Noct., 1852, I, p. .')2.— Walker, Cat. 



Brit. Mus., Het., 1856, IX, p. 59.— Butlkh, Ent. Araer., 1887, III, p. 3(i. 

 Lepitorcuma hamamelia (iitOTE, Papilio, 188.3, III, j). 112. 

 Hyhoma hamamelis Grote, MittL. a. d. Room. Mus., Hildesb., No. 3, 1896, p. 7. 



Ground color a dirty ash gray, more or less overlaid by black scales, 

 which are prominently uplifted. Head (luite smoky and almost always 

 with a more or less evident black baud crossing the front. In pale 



