146 
Psyche 
[June- August 
THE FAMILY POSITION OF GRAPHELYSIA (LEPIDOP- 
TERA) 
By Wm. T. M. Forbes. 
Ithaca, New York. 
Graphelysia Hampson (Annals and Magazine of Natural 
History (8) vol. 8, p. 408, 1911) was based on Elysius strigillata 
Rothschild, described as an Arctiid. Its position in the Arctiidse 
has been unchallenged, and it appears in the Supplement to the 
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalsense, vol. 2, page 337. 
The Cornell Entomological Expedition of 1919-1920 cap- 
tured two specimens, a female from Corumba, Matto Grosso, 
Brazil, Dec. 1919, and a male from Urucum, in the vicinity of 
Corumba, Dec. 23, making a considerable extension of the dis- 
tribution, as the species was described from southern Peru. 
The form is undoubtedly a Noctuid, not an Arctiid, as 
shown both by the venation and by the tympanum, which is of 
a type unknown in the Arctiid^e. It will find a place in the 
Acontianse, as defined by Hampson, but is abundantly dis- 
tinguished by the combination of conical front and stalked R 2 
(vein 10); in fact it is not close to any known genus. The an- 
tenna is pectinate in both sexes, an extraordinary character in 
the quadrifid Noctuidse, the frenulum hook of the male distinctly 
longer than wide, though far from having the slenderness typical 
of Acontianse, the female frenulum of three strong bristles. At 
the base of the hind wing Sc is moderately thickened, and R is 
weak but free, fusing with Sc for a short distance only; M 2 is 
well developed, and distinctly cubital, though well separated 
from Ms at the origin. On one side of the male specimen Sc 
and R though closely approximate are not actually fused, and 
M 2 arises from the middle of the end of the cell, though the 
other side, like the female, is normal. The tympanum is like no 
other form I have seen; without dissection it is not possible to 
make it out fully, but the alula is deeply fringed with loose hair, 
not forming the scaly cap frequent in the Acontianie, the hood 
