1 893-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 193 



the hind angles of the secondaries. The wings are usually rather 

 small in proportion to the body and the primaries are trigonate, 

 with marked, though rarely pointed apices. The ocelli are pres- 

 ■ent, except in rare instances, and as a rule the tongue is well de- 

 veloped. The legs are usually well developed, moderate in 

 length, the posterior longest, tibiae of median pair with terminal 

 spurs, those of posterior pair with middle and terminal spurs. 

 The anterior tibia has, in lieu of spurs, an epiphyses on the inner 

 side, covering an excavation which occupies a greater or less ex- 

 tent of the member. While the above characterizes the normal 

 form of the Noctuidae, there are numerous departures from the 

 type. The head, instead of being moderate only, may become 

 prominent, or it mav, on the other hand, become reduced in size, 

 retracted and bombyciform in appearance. The tongue, while it 

 never becomes excessively long, may dwindle and become obso- 

 lete, and this is usually associated with a retracted head. The 

 palpi vary in every possible way, from the small tubercles which 

 are hardly perceptible, to the prominent, rostrate type found in 

 the Deltoids. The antennae are as variable; in the females they 

 are usually setaceous or bristle-form, but by no means always; 

 in the males they range from setaceous to broadly pectinated, 

 though never to the doubly pectinated type; sometimes there are 

 other peculiarities in the male antennae, like the knots in Renia, 

 or the peculiar twists in Herminia. These variations in the ap- 

 pendages of the head furnish good characters for generic divi- 

 sions, and, in addition, the character of the frontal structure and 

 of the frontal clothing, as well as of the eyes, are made use of. 

 In the great majority of cases the eyes are naked, hemispherical, 

 are not particularly prominent; sometimes they will become al- 

 most globose, and the most conspicuous feature of the head; or, 

 on the contrary, they may be reduced to lentil-shaped discs, or 

 may loose their round form altogether and become reniform, or 

 kidney-shaped. Sometimes we find at the margins a fringing of 

 long hair overhanging the eyes, and they are then said to be 

 lashed; again, there may be a clothing of more or less conspicu- 

 ous hair on the surface, a single hair from each facet, set in one 

 of the angles. Lashed eyes usually accompany a somewhat re- 

 tracted head, and are more usual in the Xyliniform series. The 

 front varies quite frequently, and while the great bulk of the spe- 

 cies have it smooth and not modified in any way, we often find 



