234 THIRTIETH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. [122] 



" Lyccena Lucia was first observed on April 17th [a month 

 earlier than its Albany record see p. 55], and lasted until 

 May 17th. L. neglecta first appeared May 21st, and contin- 

 ued throughout June, quite common. It afterward appeared 

 in September. 



" During the latter part of August, two specimens of L. 

 Lucia were taken, unless they were the var. violacea. The 

 markings on the underside of the wings were dark and heavy, 

 exactly like those collected in the spring. It was not observed 

 again." 



The occurrence of L. Lucia or the form violacea in the 

 month of August has never before been recorded, and it would 

 seem at variance with the idea entertained of their being but 

 spring forms. Mr. Scudder records that one example of mo- 

 lacea has been taken at Walpole, IS". H., so late as the 7th of 

 July, but it has ordinarily been confined, in this latitude, to 

 the months of May and June. 



Do not the observations of Dr. Howe of the August exam- 

 ples rather indicate that they were an exceptional second ap- 

 pearance of L. Lucia, and lend additional confirmation to the 

 belief hitherto entertained of its being distinct from L. pseud- 

 argiolus. 



Agrotis nigricans Linn., var. maizii Fitch. 



Of this moth, figured and described at considerable length 

 in Dr. Fitch's Ninth Annual Report (pi. 4, figs. 2 and 3, pp. 237- 

 249, Sixth-Ninth Reports : 1865), there are five examples, la- 

 belled as above by Dr. Fitch, in the collection of the Museum 

 of the New York State Agricultural Society, and bearing also 

 the additional popular name of the corn dart moth. 



No one else has recognized A. nigricans in any of our 

 American forms, nor, very strangely, has this determination 

 of Dr. Fitch been referred as a synonym to any other species.* 



A critical examination of the examples above mentioned 

 has enabled me to refer them unhesitatingly, although 'much 

 faded from ten or more years' exposure to strong sunlight in 

 an exposed table-case, to the typical form of A. lessellata Har- 

 ris, as recognized in the collections at Buffalo and Albany. 

 The specific name " A. tesseUata" embraces at present a vari- 

 ety of forms, which seem to me to vary too much among 



* Since the above has been in type, the reference of " A. nigricans" to the A. tesseliata 

 of Harris, made by Prof Grote in the Canadian Entomologist, vol. vi, 118 (1874), has come 

 to my notice. 



