NO. 1140. NORTH AMERICAN NOCTUIDAE— SMITH AND DYAR. 167 



Apatela xyliniformia Dimmock, Psyche, 1885, IV, p. 274. 



Arctomyacis xijlimformis Grote, Mitth. a. d. Roem. Mus., Hildesh., No. 3, 1896, p. 7. 



Acvonijcta louga Guknke, Spec. Gen.,Noct., 1852,1, p. 51. — Betiiunk, Can. Ent., 



1869, 1, p. 71. — Butler, Ent. Amer., 1887, III, p. 36^briimosa Guencc. 

 Apatela spinujera \ Grote, in lists and coll. — Thaxter, Psyche, 1878, II, p. 121. — 



Grote, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1883, VI, p. 572.— Dimmock, Psyche, 1885, IV, p. 



274, larva. 

 Apatela palUdicoma Grote, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1878, IV, p. 169. 

 Pharetra pallidicoma Grote, Mitth. a. d. Roem. Mus., Hildesh., No. 3, 1896, p. 7. 



Ground color aslien gray, more or less black powdered. Head and 

 thorax without definite markings, thougli the patagiae are sometimes 

 a little dusky. Primaries with the markings fairly well defined. Basal 

 line obscurely marked on the costa, and in most cases wanting. Trans- 

 verse anterior line geminate, a little oblique, strongly outcurved between 

 the veins, smoky, rarely entirely complete, and more frequently marked 

 only by an oblique costal dash, everything below that being barely indi- 

 cated or entirely wanting. The median shade is marked by an oblique 

 streak from the costa to the reniform, and is scmietimes traceable as a 

 smoky shading obliquely inward from that point; as a rule, however, 

 it is not traceable. The transverse posterior line is obsoletely gemi- 

 nate, the inner line very faintly marked, the intervening space whitish, 

 the outer line black, lunulate, and a little dentate on the veins. Beyond 

 this the subterminal space is somewhat darker, and occasionally relieves 

 a vague shading that may be looked u[)on as a i)ale subterminal line. 

 There is a series of black dots, beyond which the fringes are cut with 

 black, and from which smoky or blackish shadings sometimes extend 

 inwardly. There is no black longitudinal line or streak at base, though 

 sometimes a few black scales indicate such a mark. There is a distinct 

 dagger mark crossing the transverse posterior line in the submedian 

 interspace. The ordinary spots are fairly well defined; the orbicular 

 small, round, with a dusky center or entirely dusky; reniform large, 

 incomj)letely outlined, smoky or blackish, kidney shaped. Secondaries 

 white in the male, more or less smoky in the female. Beneath white 

 or smoky, powdery, with a more or less obvious discal spot, which is 

 often wanting, and sometimes with a trace of an outer line. 



Exi)anse, 1.40 to 1.80 inches (35 to 45 mm.). 



Habitat. — Canada to Florida, west to the Eocky Mountains; Florida 

 in March; Texas in March and August; central New York in July; 

 central Illinois in July; Washington, District of Columbia, May and 

 July. 



This is an exceedingly variable species in size, ground color, and in 

 the distinctness of the markings. It has received several names, 

 Guenee describing it twice, for I have no doubt, from the description, 

 that longa was indicated for a form of this species. Mr. Grote has 

 named one form imlUdicoma^ and has identified another as spinigera in 

 collections. All these forms are referable to one variable type, which is 

 rather easily identified by the fact that there is no distinct basal streak. 

 This associates it with the narrow- winged forms like ohlinita and Ian- 



