206 Some apparently new Species and Forms of Noctuidae 



15. Stictoptera indescribens sp. nov. 



3 ? , 38—48 mm. 



Near to describens Wlkr., with which it has hitherto been confused, 

 but very distinct structurally, especially in the 2 , which is rather 

 remarkable for the presence of retractile black tufts beneath the pleura 

 of the fifth and sixth abdominal segments. Although the insect often 

 dies with these tufts retracted, the black coloration always remains 

 visible, making this ? at once distinguishable from the ? of describens. 

 In the 3 the two species are most easily distinguished by the antenna, 

 which is shortly ciliate (apparently scarcely fasciculate) in describens, 

 but in indescribens is fasciculate with the fascicles at least once the 

 diameter of shaft. In indescribens the costa of fore wing (especially in 

 the 3 ) is usually rather less concave than in describens, the 3 hind 

 wing distinctly larger, with the hyaline area increased. 



Kuns to very much the same forms as describens, but the ? is 

 usually (the 3 sometimes) more ochreous in tone. Abs. corresponding 

 to Hampson's abs. 2, 4, 8 and 10 of describens occur in indescribens 

 from Ceram. There is also an ab. ( 3 and ? ) with the proximal half 

 of the wing more or less completely suffused with fuscous, distinctly 

 defined by the medial line ; a 3 -form with a leaden-fuscous patch 

 occupying the anterior two-thirds of the wing from medial to sub- 

 terminal line (the type belongs to this form) and a ? -ab. with a broad 

 slate-blue band proximally to the antemedial line and a slate-blue 

 apical patch, as well as some lesser aberrations. 



Coloration varying according to the form ; the lines and stigmata 

 (when not obsolete) much as in describens, excepting the subterminal 

 line, which in indescribens is usually scarcely dentate behind E' 2 and is 

 often slightly waved from K 3 to the fold (in describens this line is 

 usually sharply dentate from SC 5 to M 1 , then oblique and almost 

 straight to the fold). 



G-enitalia very distinct. 



Manusela, 6,000 feet, October to December, 1919, twelve 3 3 , 

 thirty-four ? ? . This species is also in coll. Joicey from Dutch New 

 Guinea and Sud-Est Is., Brit. New Guinea, and in coll. Eothschild 

 from Rook Is., and Brit. New Guinea. 



16. Stictoptera parva sp. nov. 

 3 , 33 mm. 



Head, palpus and thorax typically whitish shaded with dark brown, 

 leaving a broad whitish, unshaded band across the prothorax and 



