276 



TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



VERNATA. 



Wing's delicate, silky, semi-trans- 

 parent, transversely striate, the 

 scales short and very loosely at- 

 tached. 



Front-wings with costal and sub- 

 costal veins well united, with the 

 discal cross-vein partially open, and 

 but t-wo short costal branches, the 

 superior veins straight.* (Fig. 15, 

 «•) 



Upper surface brownish-gray. 



Crossed by three jagged, dark 

 lines, sometimes obsolete except on 

 the submedian and median veins, 

 and on the costa where they are 

 always distinct and divide the wing 

 into four subequal parts. No white 

 costal spot. (Fig. 16, a.) 



A pale, jagged, subterminal band, 

 corresponding in some degree to the 

 outermost band in potnetarta, but 

 running out to apex, where it is 

 always sharply relieved posteriorly 

 by a dark mark, and often the whole 

 length by dusky shadings. 



Hind-viings with the costal vein 

 bifurcating at, or but little beyond, 

 the discal, and with the independent 

 or vein 5 faint. 



Color pale-ash or very light gray, 

 with a dusky discal dot. 



POMETARIA. 



Wings less transparent, more 

 glossy, not striate, the scales on an 

 average longer and more firmly at- 

 tached. 



Front-vjings with costal and sub- 

 costal less closely united, with the 

 discal cross-vein well closed, and 

 with three costal branches. All 

 the veins 7-11 are more distinctly 

 separated and the superiors more 

 curved, veins 9 and 10 forming an 

 open areolet near the disc : the 

 apex more produced. (Fig. 19, a.) 



Upper surface also brownish- 

 gray, but somewhat darker, with a 

 purplish reflection. 



Crossed by two less jagged, whit- 

 ish bands, the outermost suddenly 

 bending inwards near costa. where 

 it forms a pale, quadrate spot, re- 

 lieved by a darker shading of the 

 wing around it : the bands some- 

 times so obsolete as to leave only 

 this pale spot; but more often re- 

 lieved on the sides toward each 

 other by a dark shade, most persist- 

 ent on the veins. (Fig. 20, a.) 



No such band. 



Hind-wings with the costal vein 

 bifurcating considerably beyond 

 the discal, which is strongly el- 

 bowed; vein 5 quite strong. (Fig. 



19, *•) 



Grayish -brown, with a faint 

 blackish discal dot. 



* A microscopic examination shows the venation in vernaia to be on the same plan as 

 that in pometaria. Tlie difference is that in vernaia the costal vein is feeble and generally 

 obsolete at its termination, and all the veins 7-ia are more closely united with the costal 

 than in pometaria. 



