FAMILY NOCTUID^E 



" Shall mortal man be more just than God ? 

 Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? 

 Behold He put no trust in His servants; 

 And His angels He charged with folly: 

 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, 

 Whose foundation is in the dust, 

 Which are crushed before the moth ? " 



JOB, Chapter IV, 17-19. 



The Noctuidcz are a huge complex of genera and species, 

 the genera being reckoned by hundreds, and the species by 

 thousands. Within the faunal limits intended to be covered by 

 this book there are already known to occur in the neighborhood 

 of three hundred and seventy-five genera, and many more than 

 two thousand species which are referable to this family. In the 

 arrangement of the genera and the species the author has in the 

 main followed Dyar's Catalogue, which is based upon that of 

 Prof. J. B. Smith, published in 1893 as "Bulletin 44 of the 

 United States National Museum." 



The moths are nocturnal in their habits. The neuration is 

 very constant, and is described as follows by Hampson ("Moths 

 of India, "Vol. II, p. 160): 



" Fore wing with vein \a slight and not anastomosing with 

 ibj \c absent; 2 from middle of cell; 3, 4, 5 from close to lower 

 angle; 6 from upper angle; 8 given off from 7 and anastomosing 

 with 9, which is given off from 10 to form an areole; 11 from 

 cell; 12 long. Hind wing with \a and b present; \c absent; 

 2 from middle of cell; 3 and 4 from lower angle; 5 from near 

 lower angle or middle of discocellulars, rarely absent, but more 

 or less aborted in the Acontiince and Trifince. Frenulum always, 

 proboscis almost always, present." 



The larvae are generally naked, or at most pubescent. In 

 some of the subfamilies the larvae are semiloopers, some of the 

 prolegs being absent. Pupation generally takes place under 



