200 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 207 



the white spot or the white border of costa. Hind 

 wing hyaUne white with a narrow fuscous shade along 

 termen and a similar shading on some of the veins, 

 especially on the females. Alar expanse, 13-21 mm. 



Male genitalia with lateral margins of viQculum 

 slightly concave ; terminal margin very slightly angled ; 

 clasper sharply pointed. Female genitalia exhibiting 

 considerable variety in size of bursa, size of the large 

 spined plate of signa, and the number of scattered spines 

 opposite the spined plate. Extremes of variation are 

 shown in figure 942. 



Type localities: South BrazU (anticella, in BM) ; 

 Santos, Brazil (nigritella, in BM) . 



Food plant: Elephantopus sp. 



Distribution: Cuba: Santiago de las Vegas (Sept.). 

 Guatemala: Cayuga (Aug.), Chejel (Aug.), Volcan 

 Santa Maria (Jidy). Costa Rica: La Florida, Juan 

 Vinas (May, Nov.). Panama: Corozal (Apr.), La- 

 Chorrera (May), Paralso (May), Porto Bello (Apr., 

 May, Oct., Dec), Rio Trinidad (Mar.). French 

 Guiana: St. Jean Maroni. Colombia: Minca. 

 Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Prov. del Sara (Jan., Nov.) ; 

 Brazil: Sao Paulo, Amparo, Santos, Ypianga (Sept.); 

 Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina Isl. Ecuador: 

 Quevedo (Nov. Dec). Paraguay: Villarrica (July, 

 Aug., Sept.). Argentina: "Villa Ana, F. C. S. F." 

 (Jan.). 



Over 60 specimens before me from the National 

 Museum, British Museum, Cornell, and Janse Collec- 

 tions exhibiting wide variation in size and color, from 

 suffused examples corresponding to the figure of 

 nigritella in the Ragonot Monograph (pi. 49, fig. 20) 

 to that of typical anticella (pi. 48, fig. 25). The male 

 genitalia are remarkably uniform. Female genitalia 

 vary in individual specimens as indicated above. Such 

 variations bear no relation to locality or pattern. The 

 food plant record is from two reared specimens ( cf and 9) 

 in the National Museum from Santiago de las Vegas 

 (E. E. A. de Cuba, No. 9627). This is our only known 

 host record. 



104. Genus Cabotia Ragonot 



Cabotia Ragonot, Nouv. Gen., p. 30, 1888; Monograph, pt. 2, 

 pp. xi, 187, 1901.— Hampson, in Ragonot, Monograph, 

 pt. 2, p. 188, 1901. (Type of genus: Cabotia semidiscella 

 Ragonot.) 



Encystia Hampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 7, p. 256, 

 1901. (Type of genus: Encystia bonhoti Hampson. New 

 synonymy.) 



Tongue well developed. Antenna pubescent; basal 

 segment elongate; on male shaft compressed and 

 strongly curved at base (fig. 452d); on female shaft 

 simple. Labial palpus oblique; segment 2 reaching 

 almost to vertex, in male grooved to hold the maxillary 

 palpus; segment 3 short, deflected forward or slightly 

 downward. Maxillary palpus of male in the form of an 

 aigrette; of female filiform, somewhat broadly scaled. 

 Forewing smooth; 11 veins; 2 from very close to lower 

 outer angle of cell; 3 from the angle; 4-5 stalked for at 



least half their lengths, stalk connate with 3; 6 from 

 below upper angle of cell, straight; 10 from the cell, 

 at base shortly separated from 8-9; male without 

 costal fold. Hind wing with veia 2 from lower outer 

 angle of cell, connate with 3 ; 3 and 5 long stalked (for 

 over half their lengths) ; 7 and 8 anastomosed for 

 slightly more than half their lengths beyond cell; cell 

 about one-third the length of wing; discocellular vein 

 curved. Eighth abdominal segment of male with a pair 

 of ventrolateral hair tufts. 



Male genitalia with apical process of gnathos an ovate 

 plate bearing a small thornlike spine near its posterior 

 end. Uncus triangulate; apex pointed. Harpe elon- 

 gate; apex evenly rounded; clasper vertical, knobbed. 

 Anellus a triangulate, cupped plate. Aedeagus short, 

 stout, sharply angled at apex; penis with a few scattered 

 granulations, otherwise unarmed. Viuculum stout, as 

 long as or a trifle longer than broad, truncate, and of 

 nearly equal width throughout. 



Female genitalia mth signa well developed, consisting 

 of a chain of short thornlike spines on bulbous bases and 

 a varying number of similar, scattered, discontinuous 

 spines; bursa otherwise smooth; ductus bursae mem- 

 branous; genital opening simple, unsclerotized; ductus 

 seminalis from bursa near its junction with ductus 

 bursae. 



The genus is compact and sharply defined, easily 

 distinguished from nearly related genera by its male 

 antenna, signa, and the shape of the terminal projection 

 of gnathos. Hampson's description of Encystia would 

 indicate something entirely different, but the description 

 is erroneous in a number of details: vein 9 of forewing is 

 not absent, but well developed; vein 2 of forewing is 

 close to, but not from the angle, and the discocellular 

 vein of hind wing is curved and not oblique. I have 

 before me two females of his series of bonhoti from 

 Nassau and photographs of his holotype and its male 

 genitalia which clearly show that it is a typical Cabotia. 



Specific limits within the genus are difficult to deter- 

 mine from the limited and scattered material available. 

 I suspect that most of the names will eventually fall 

 into synonymy. The genitalic differences exhibited by 

 the supposed species are trifling, consisting chiefly of 

 the terminal plate of gnathos and the number of spines 

 composing the signa, aU very doubtful characters sub- 

 ject to individual variation. The coloration and pat- 

 tern — ^likewise somewhat individually variable in speci- 

 mens from a given locality — are much the same for all 

 the species except Dyar's rhythmatica: Forewing luteous 

 more or less shaded with fuscous ; antemedial line very 

 faintly indicated, well out towards middle of wing, 

 bordered outwardly at or near costa by a fuscous blotch 

 and inwardly near inner margin by a similar shade; 

 sub terminal line obscure, parallel and close to termen; 

 costal area whitish ; a sparse scattering of reddish scales 

 over most of the wing; discal dots faint; terminal dots 

 distinguishable except at tornus and near apex. Hind 

 wing pale smoky fuscous, proportionally darker in dark 

 females. 



