March, 1902.] SmITH : New NOCTUID/E. 51 



before me — being all a matter of a little more or a little less in some 

 one or more unimportant features. 



Acontia Ochs. 



Since my Revision of the species of Acontia only a little over a 

 year ago (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, XXVII, pp. 47-84, September, 1900) 

 I have received much material for determination and otherwise. This 

 has served to complete sets and to confirm identifications made. It 

 has also disclosed the existence of four heretofore undescribed species 

 three of which are here characterized. Of these one, from Lake 

 Worth, Florida, is due to the untiring work of Mrs. Slosson, who has 

 discovered so many interesting species in her favorite localities. The 

 others are from the Southwest. With one exception the examples 

 described were taken by Mr. George S. Hutson on a prospecting trip 

 across the desert from Yuma County, Arizona, to San Bernardino 

 County, California. Exact localities are not available ; but those 

 marked Quartzsite, Yuma County, Arizona, were taken not far from 

 that camp, while those marked Walters Station, California, were taken 

 nearest to that place. In each case the territory was similar, except 

 in elevation, and quite a number of the species from both localities 

 proved identical. The character of Mr. Hutson's sendings indicates 

 the existence of a series of species of which we have thus far only the 

 merest fragments. 



Acontia niveicollis, sp. nov. 



Head except extreme base, slaty gray. Collar white at base like the head, else 

 like the thorax, which is a glistening smoky or slate gray, verging toward deep choc- 

 olate brown. Abdomen smoky brown above, white beneath. Primaries white, 

 mottled with slate gray. The white area extends along the costal area and through 

 the cell to the reniform, broken by a slaty costal spot at the place of the t. a. line. 

 Below the median vein the wing is slaty gray or blackish to the t. p. line ; broken by 

 a white transverse line representing the pale included space of the t. a. line. Above 

 the reniform is a small, quadrate slaty spot, from which the dark gray t. p. line curves 

 over the cell and forms the apparent outer margin of the reniform. The orbicular is 

 a small black dot. The reniform is a dark, slate gray, round spot of moderate size, 

 surrounded by a well-defined white annulus and incompletely gray margined without 

 that. There is a quadrate white spot on the costa beyond the t. p. line and from the 

 dark shade which limits this outwardly, arises a slender broken line of gray scales, 

 parallel to and forming the outer part of the t. p. line. S. t. and terminal spaces 

 white except at apex, which is slate gray with a brown tinge. The apical dark area 

 is crossed by the thread like, white s. t. line and emphasized by an oval black spot 

 and some blue scales. Metallic blue scales are also found in the darker part of the 



