300 INSECTA, 



Erebus, Lat. — Thysania, Dalm. — Noctca, Fab., 

 Where the wings are always extended and horizontal, and the last 

 joint of the inferior palpi is long, slender, and naked. 



They are the largest Lepidoptera of this tribe, and with the excep- 

 tion of one species peculiar to Spain — the Ophiusa scapulosa, Ochs. 

 — are all foreign to Europe *. 



NocTUA, Fab., 

 Where the last joint of the inferior palpi is very short, and covered 

 with scales, as in the preceding Insects f. 



Among his Noctuse proper, the caterpillars of some, and the greater 

 number, have sixteen feet. Of these we will notice the 



A^ Sponsa, Fab., Roes., Insect., IV, xix. Cinereous grey ; tho- 

 rax crested; wings lapping : upper surface of the superior ones 

 obscure grey, with stronglyundulated black streaks, and a whitish 

 spot divided by several black lines ; that of the inferior bright 

 red, with two black bands ; abdomen entirely cinereous. 



The caterpillar lives on the Oak ; it is grey, with some obscure 

 and irregular spots, and little tubercles; a hump on the fifth 

 ring, surmounted by a yellow plate. This species and some others 



♦ Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., IV, 225; Consid. G^n. sur les Crast,. &c. 

 The males of some species have pectinated antennae, and might constitute a particular 

 subgenus. 



f The genus Noctua of Fabricius, in Ochsenheimer's History of the Lepidoptera of 

 Europe, is divided into forty-two, from Acronicta to EucUdia inclusively. They are, 

 for the most part, the divisions established in the Systematic Catalogue of the Lepi- 

 doptera of Vienna, transformed into genera which the nature of our work forbids us 

 to describe. That of Noctua, the Erebi being detached, appears to us to divide itself 

 into two great parallel series, one of whicii is connected with these latter Lepidoptera, 

 and the other with the Notodontie. The first is composed of those Noctuae whose 

 caterpillars walk in the manner of Geomelrce. Some have sixteen feet, of which the 

 two or four anterior, of the intermediate membranous ones, are the shortest ; the 

 others have but twelve : such are the Phisicc and the Chrysuptera, a genus distin- 

 guished from the preceding by the size of the inferior palpi, which bend over the 

 head. The second series will commence with species in which the palpi are propor- 

 tionally larger, tbe antennre pectinated, and the proboscis is small ; such are the 

 Notodonia palpina {Odonptera palpinus) Lat., and the Calyptra of Ochsenheimer, or 

 Calpes of Treitschke. Then will follow the genera Xylena, Cucv.Ua, those Noctuae in 

 ■which the posterior margin of the superior wings is angular or dentated, those where 

 the antennae are pectinated, and then those in which they are simple. We will ter- 

 minate these latter species with such as have a smooth thorax, some of which, of the 

 genus Erastia, Id., appear to lead to Pyralis. All the caterpillars of this second 

 series have sixteen feet, and the intermediate membranous ones of equal sizs ; they 

 move in a straight line. The Chrosopteiae — Plusia concha, Fisch., Entomog. Imp. 

 Russ. I, Lepid., IV — with which we terminate the other series, are allied to Hermi- 

 nia and Pyralis. Thus the tv,o series seem to converge and end in this large section. 

 The Lichenia or Cotocala of Ochsenheimer are large species, with almost horizontal 

 wings, that appear naturally approximated, as well as Ophius, lirephos, &c. to Erebus. 

 If we place them in the other series they destroy its harmony. 



The Bombyx cyllopoda, Dalm., Analect. Entom., 102, should form a new subgenus. 

 It is very remarkable, inasmuch as the two posterior legs are shorter than the others, 

 unarmed and almost useless for the purpose of locomotion. This Insect, on account 

 of its pectinated antennae, distinct proboscis, and antenna; which are twice the 

 length of the head, should be placed near tbe genus Cahjptra of Ochsenheimer, or our 

 HerminisD. 



