GROUP BRUNNEJCOLLIS 



This group includes two species. It is distinguished by having 

 a dark-brown head and collar, concolorous ; contrasting with the 

 ground color of the wings ; and an uncrested thorax. The group 

 seems to be in a very stable evolutionary state, for while the colors 

 of specimens may vary considerably within the species, the genitalia 

 are remarkably constant. 



Superficial Key to the Brunneicollis Group 



I. — Lines double (on primaries) brunneicollis 



II. — Lines single rufipectus 



Genitalic Key to the Brunneicollis Group 



I. — Uncus not ladle-shaped; juxta a plate hrunnecollis 



II. — Uncus ladle-shaped; juxta with (very) large spine. ...rufipectus 



LAMPRA BRUNNEICOLLIS, Grt. 



1864. Grt., Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila., Ill, 524, pi. 5, f. 5 $, Noctua. 



1869. Grt., Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, II, 309, Aqrotis. 



1883. Grt., Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, XXI, 144, Aqrotis. 



1890. Sm., Bull. U. S. X. M., XXXVIII, 15, 18, Rhynchagrotis. 



1893. Sm., Bull. U. S. N. M., XLIV, 51, Rhynchagrotis. 



1895. Grt., Abb. Nat. Ver., Bremen, XIV, 58, Agrotis (Lampra). 



1903. Hamp., Cat. l,ep. Phal. B. M., IV, 629, pi. LXXVI, f. 30, Triphaena. 



1908. Sm., Can. Ent., XL, 223, Rhynchagrotis. 



XOCTUA BRUNNEICOLLIS, nov. sp. (Plate 5, Fig. 5. $) 



Anterior wings narrow, cincereous, with a uniform, more or less de- 

 termined, reddish shade; ordinary lines dark, distinct but interrupted. 

 Basal half-line blackish, distinct, straight; transverse anterior blackish, 

 geminate, nearly straight, forming three even curves. Ordinary spots 

 large, distinct, concolorous with the rest of the wing, anniilated with a 

 darker line, the reniform broad, but slightly excavated externally; trans- 

 verse posterior line sub-obsolete, forming black dots on the veins, between 

 each of which the line forms an inward undvdation; sub-terminal line dif- 

 fuse, blackish, broadly marked at the costa, immediately below which it is 

 interrupted, thence with a single outward inclination it is continued dis- 

 tinct to internal margin; fringes long, darker than the rest of the wing. 

 Posterior wings broad, very pale grayish testaceous, immaculate, concolor- 

 ous, very slightly darker shaded along external margin. Under surface 

 of anterior wings reddish along the costa, rest of the wing blackish cinere- 

 ous, paler along terminal margin ; under surface of posterior wings similar 

 to upper surface except along the costa, where they are powdered with 

 reddish and grayish scales; both pair crossed by a very indistinct black- 

 ish line. Palpi and head reddish brown, latter darker on the vertex; collar 

 very dark reddish brown, distinctly contrasted with the thorax and tegulae 

 which share the coloration of anterior wings. Abdomen somewhat flat- 

 tened, dark grayish testaceous above, beneath, with anal tuft, of a more 

 reddish hue. Legs dark grayish, becoming brown on the tibiae and tarsi, 

 latter marked with testaceous at base. $. $. Exp. 1.40 to 1.50 inch. 



Habitat: Middle States. (Coll. Ent. Soc. Phil.) 



Allied to Nocuta clandestina, Harris (Oraphiphora hibricans, Walk.) 

 and belonging to the genus Oraphiphora of some Authors. It~ is, how- 

 ever, to this and allied forms that Linnaeus' generic term Noctua is at 

 present restricted and should be applied. My correspondence with Mr. 

 Walker has elicited the information that the present species has not been 

 hitherto described. 



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