﻿176 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



just outside of the disc and between the inferior veins.'* Beneath, the wliole coloration 

 is l)righter, the spots between veins G and 9 beinof pure white, the others safFronyellow, 

 and the posterior portions of all tlie wings, and a broad costal streak on secondaries, 

 pearly-gray ; a spot of the same color is observable on the outer third of secondaries 

 below vein 2, a more distinct and triangular mark on the inner third just below the 

 costal vein; while the orange superior spots in § show dark brown. The antennte 

 are white with the exception of the club ; the palpi and front trochanters whitish-graj% 

 deepening posteriorly. The legs are brown with the tarsi but f^iintly tinged with gray. 

 The ten specimens that have come under my observation show considerable vari- 

 ation, aside from that which is sexual, in the dejith of color and size of the spots, as 

 well as in the distance between them and the hind border of the wing; but none of 

 them have the spot on primaries, indicated in one of Boisduval's figures, just within 

 the middle of the wing and below vein 2. 



AFFINITIES . 



Let us now compare the foregoing detailed characters with the Castuians on the 

 one hand and the Hesperians on the other. 



Scudder, who has certainly given more attention than perhaps any other author 

 to the Hesperians, divides them into two groups, which he considers of tribal value.f 

 The first to which he applies Lfttreille's name Hesperides is characterized chiefly by the 

 primaries in the (J' having a costal fold (often inconspicuous, however;) by the posterior 

 extremity of the alimentary canal being protected beneath by a corneous sheath, which 

 extends beyond the centrum or body of the upper pair of abdominal appendages, some- 

 times nearly to the extremity of the appendages ; by the club of antennte being elon- 

 gate, roundly bent, or with a sinuous lateral curve ; by the prevailing color being dark 

 brown with white or translucent angular spots ; by the stout body and swift flight; by 

 the eggs being distinctly ribbed vertically; and by thelarvoe generally feeding on legu- 

 minous plants and living in horizontal nests made with the leaves. The second tribe, 

 to which he gives Hiibner's name Astyci,X the front wings of (^ have no costal fold ; 

 the extremity of the alimentary canal is not protected by any extruded sheath ; " the 

 prevailing tints of the wings are tawny and black, marked also but often feebly with 

 pale, sometimes vitreous, spots ;'' the antennoe have a stout club, which either tapers 

 rapidly or is devoid of a crook ; the hind wings are usually horizontal in rest ; the eggs 

 are smooth, usually broader than high ; and the larvae *' feed on Gramineae, and gen- 

 erally construct vertical nests among the blades.'' 



The eggs of the Castnians are, so far as I am aware, unknown and undescribed. 

 In both butterflies and moths they present an infinite variety in form, in sculpture, and 

 in the manner in which they are laid. As a rule, however, those of the larger moths 

 are either ovoid, spherical or flattened, and rarely subcorneal or sculptured ; while those 

 of butterflies are more often conical, and present greater variety in form and sculp- 

 ture. The eggs of Hesperians are subconical, and those of the Astyci, as we have just 

 seen, in being smooth and broader than high, agree exactly with those of Yuccce. 



Thelarvre of the Castnians are, according to Boisduvalg, endophytous, boring the 

 stems and roots of Orchids and other plants, like the Sesians and Hepialians, and like 

 Yuccce. But they are ornamented with the ordinary horny piliferous spots or warts 

 which characterize Ileterocerous larv.t!, and have a horny anal plate. Butterfly larvae, 

 on the contrar}', rarely possess these warts, but frequently have the body uniformly beset 



•The secondary sexual characters are confounded by Boisduval, as quoted by Morris (Synopsis 

 of Lep. of N. A., p. 113,) though, as there is no text in the Iconographies the error doubtless originated 

 with Morris in malcing descriptions from the figures. 



t Bulletin Bufrullo Soc. Nat. Sci. , p. lO,"). 



tl think such diversity of ending in terms used for divisions of the same value should be avoided. 



§ Suites a ButTon; Spliingides, Scsiides, Castniides; Paris, 1874. 



