NO. 1140. NORTH AMERICAN NOCTUIDAE— SMITH AND DYAR. 145 



eight specimens before me seven were collected by Mr. Doll, who says 

 that he finds the pupae very early in spring. The species is not by 

 any means a common one, and is but rarely represented in collections. 

 It may be that it is sometimes taken and discarded as an undersized 

 liamamelis. One specimen has a very dark smoky ground color, with 

 a faint greenish tint that is quite characteristic, but other specimens 

 are much like the average run of liamamelis, except for the size and nar- 

 row wings. There is nothing characteristic in the structural details. 



ACRONYCTA RETARDATA Walker. 

 (Plates II, fig. 5, adult ; XII, fig. 11, female adult; XXI, fig. 29, male genitalia.) 



Microcoelia retardala Walker, Cau. Nat. & Geol., 18G1, VI, p. 38. — Gkote, Can. 



Ent., 1877, IX, p. 2Q = dissecta. 

 Acronycta dissecta Grote and Robinson, Trans. Am. Ent. 8oc., 1870, III, ]>. 178, 



pl.ii , fig. 81. 

 Lepitoreuma dissecta Grote, Papilio, 1883, III, p. 113. — Smith, Bull. II. S. Nat. 



Mu8., No.. 44, 1893, p. 45, pr. syn. 



Ground color whitish gray. Collar with a dusky line at base. 

 Primaries with all the markings evident. Basal line geminate, reach- 

 ing nearly to the middle of the wing. Transverse anterior line gemi- 

 nate, black, outwardly oblique and a little curved. A black mark on 

 the costal vein seems to bring the inner i^art of the line to the extreme 

 base of the wing. The median line is well marked on the costa, extend- 

 ing obliquely to the reuiform and rather vaguely marked below, though 

 running close along the transverse posterior line to the outer margin. 

 The transverse posterior line is geminate, both lines luuulate, smoky to 

 black, the intervening space whitish, on the whole best marked oppo- 

 site the anal angle. It is rather evenly and not too strongly bisinuate. 

 There is a vaguely marked subterminal line, indicated rather by differ- 

 ences in shading than in any other way. A series of black dots is at 

 the base of the fringes, beyond which they are cut with brownish. 

 There is an incomplete and usually indefined line from the base to the 

 transverse anterior line. Opposite the cell the space to the transverse 

 posterior line is darkened, and in some specimens there is a vague 

 suggestion of a dagger mark. Sometimes the shading beyond the 

 transverse posterior line is rather prominent opposite the cell. The 

 ordinary spots are large, incompletely defined, and not contrasting; 

 the orbicular of the ground color, ringed with black scales, and with a 

 smoky central dot; the reniform large, a little kidney shaped, of the 

 ground color, usually with a dusky central liiuule. Secondaries white 

 to smoky, darker in the females. Beneath smoky; the secondaries 

 paler, more powdery. An outer line and a discal spot are usually 

 present, but always most distinct on the secondaries. 



Expanse, 1.08 to 1.20 inches (27 to 30 mm.). 



Habitat. — Canada to Virginia; west to the Mississippi Valley; Massa 

 chusetts ill July ; central New York in June and July. 

 Proc. N. M. vol. xxi 10 



