206 INSECTA. 
Eresus, Lat.—TZhysania, Dalm.—Noctua, Fab. 
Where the wings are always extended and horizontal, and the last 
joint of the inferior palpiis 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(1). 
Noctua, Fab. 
4 
Where the last joint of the inferior palpi is very short, and cover- 
ed with scales, as in the preceding Insects(2). 
(1) Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect., IV, 225; Consid. Gén. sur les Crust., &. The 
males of some species have pectinated antenne, and might constitute a particular 
subgenus. 
(2) The genus Noctua of Fabricius, in Ochsenheimer’s History of the Lepidop- 
tera of Europe, is divided into forty-two, from Acronicta to Euclidia inclusively. 
They are, for the most part, the divisions established in the Systematic Catalogue 
of the Lepidoptera 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 which is connected with 
these latter Lepidoptera, and the other with the Notodonte. The first is com- 
posed of those Noctuz whose caterpillars walk in the manner of Geometr~. Some 
have sixteen feet, of which the two or four anterior, of the intermediate membran- 
ous ones, are the shortest; the others have but twelve: such are the Plusix, and 
the Chrysopterx, a genus distinguished from the preceding by the size of the infe- 
rior palpi, which bend over the head. The second series will commence with 
species in which the palpi are proportionally larger, the antennz pectinated, and 
the proboscis is small; such are the Wotodonta palpina ( Odonptera palpinus, Lat.), 
and the Calyptrz of Ochsenheimer, or Calpes of Treitschke. Then will follow 
the genera Xylena, Cucullia, those Noctuz in which the posterior margin of the 
superior wings is angular or dentated, those where the antennz are pectinated, 
and then those in which they are simple. We will terminate these latter species 
with such as have a smooth thorax, some of which, of the genus Erastia, 1d., ap- 
pear to lead to Pyralis. All the caterpillars of this second series have sixteen 
feet, and the intermediate membranous ones of equal size; they move ina straight 
line. The Chrysoptere—Plusia concha, Fisch., Entomog. Imp. Russ. I, Lepid., 
IV—with which we terminate the other series, are allied to Herminia and Pyra- 
lis. Thus the two series seem to converge and end in this large section. The 
Licheniz or Catocala of Ochsenheimer are large species, with almost horizontal 
wings, that appear naturally approximated, as well as Ophius, Brephos, &c. to 
Erebus. If we place them in the other series, they destroy its harmony. 
The Bombyz cyllopoda, Dalm., Analect. Entom., 102, should form a new sub- 
