18 
or as little of it and its armament as could be seen in this condition. As a 
character of generic value Smith only employs the genitalia in a single 
instance, viz., to separate Carneades (or as we now call it, Euxoa ) from his 
Feltia and Porosagrotis groups. 
As frequently stated in previous papers, the writer is a firm believer in 
the value of the characters found in the male genitalia when used with 
discretion, both as a means of specific and of generic separation. The writer 
is, therefore, inclined, in reviewing a list of such characters as may be so 
used, to put considerable stress (possibly an undue amount) on genitalic 
similarity or dissimilarity. It naturally followed then that when the 
writer first commenced the present study he made balsam mounts of the 
male genitalia of as many species as possible, and after a long study of these 
arrived at the conclusion that, out of the multiplicity of details presented 
by these complicated organs, the harpe (clasper of Smith and others) was 
the portion that offered the best possibilities along the lines of generic 
separation. 
Throughout the whole group it is apparently possible to trace (with 
one or two minor exceptions where the harpe is entirely absent, as in 
Heptagrotis or greatly altered as in Hemieuxoa ) two types of harpe with 
their modifications. The first type, which would seem to be the more 
primitive, consists of a slightly excurved chitinous rod projecting con- 
siderably at right angles over the costal margin of the clasper and attached 
to a chitinous foot more or less approximate to the ventral margin of the 
clasper, and the proximal end of which is loosely connected with or con- 
tiguous to the apex of the sacculus. Such form of harpe is typical in the 
genus Peridroma and present with slight modifications in Diarsia, certain 
Graphiphora species, and Anomogyna. In other species ( badinodis Grt., etc.) 
which for the present the writer is also including in Graphiphora, we find 
the distal portion of the foot-like base reduced and the attachment to the 
apex of the sacculus more definite. This form is present not only in Euere- 
tagrotis with unspined fore tibite, but also in Adelphagrotis where traces 
of spining are found and Setagrotis where weak spining is constant; we also 
meet with practically the same type in the strongly spined genera Pseudor - 
thosia, Loxagrotis, and Euxoa. 
The second form of harpe is the typical Agrotid one, consisting of a 
more or less recurved hook of variable length attached to the apex of the 
sacculus and lying parallel to the costal margin of the clasper. It is typical 
in Agrotis, Feltia, and their allies, and occurs in a slightly modified form in 
Eurois , Actebia, and Euagrotis; we also find it with further modifications 
in such genera as Aplectoides, Anaplectoides, and Pseudoglaea where the 
fore tibial spining is either greatly reduced or entirely absent. 
A few genera, such as Richia, in which the harpe is oblique, are difficult 
to place accurately. It may be that they represent a connecting link 
between the two types of harpe or they may, on the other hand, be merely 
further modifications. Most of these odd forms occur in species which are 
natives of the southern or southwestern states and it will in all probability 
be necessary to study the Mexican and South American Agrotid fauna 
before their correct relationships can be established. 
Numerous other features of the genitalia, such as the presence or 
absence of the corona and pollex, the form of the sacculus and uncus, the 
nature of the anellus, etc., offer good minor points of differentiation and 
