Ill] LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVAE — FR ACKER 111 



Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (2) 5, 1895, p. 563. The larva is noctuiform and 

 cylindrical with all the usual prolegs present altho the anal ones are 

 slightly reduced in size. The primary setae are reduced, but easily 

 located with a lens; secondary setae are present only on the prolegs. 

 Labrum acutely tho not very deeply notched, as in most Notodontidae. 

 The cuticular projections of the body are conspicuous under a magnifi- 

 cation of about two hundred but might be overlooked with a low power 

 objective. The color is green, with longitudinal black stripes. This 

 insect is not found east of California. 



Family Pericopidae 



Head rarely or never bearing secondary setae; thoracic segments 

 always with sigma large and distinct, close to the coxae ; verrucae alpha 

 and beta of abdomen never contiguous ; verruca kappa of abdomen never 

 reduced, always much lower on segment 7 than on segments 6 and 8; 

 mesothorax bearing either one or two verrucae above that of the Kappa 

 group. Otherwise closely similar to Syntomidae (Figs. 67, 68). 



The larvae of the American genera and species of this family are 

 described by Dyar (1914). 



Family Nycteolidae 



This family, as such, has been abandoned by Hampson and other 

 recent lepidopterists. There is certainly no larval justification for its 

 separation from Noctuidae, altho the position of seta vii on the head 

 seems to be closer to the second and farther from the third ocellus than 

 in other noctuid genera. Calling the group "subfamily Sarrothripi- 

 nae", as Hampson does, seems best to suit the facts of both larval and 

 adult structure. 



Family Noctuidae 



The Owlet moths include about one-half of the nearly seven thou- 

 sand described species of Lepidoptera in North America. A uniform 

 group of this size naturally presents great problems to the systematist 

 and takes an amount of time disproportionate even to the size of the 

 family. By far the majority of the unidentified and misidentified moths 

 in the museums of the world probably belong to Noctuidae. The monu- 

 mental work of Hampson, which is still in course of publication, is 

 doing much to clear up questions of classification; but no amount of 

 discussion can make a problem of this size easy of solution. 



In the larvae the difficulties facing the taxonomist are intensified. 

 With the exception of half a dozen genera, noctuid larvae are so uni- 

 form in structure that one can often compare, part by part, every seg- 

 ment and appendage of larv«e of two species without finding a 



