814 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
COTTON INSECT. 
Description. — Head vinaoeous, with a small whitish tuft before : 
antenna pale honey yellow, of moderate length, covered with 
scales above and short hair beneath: labrum rounded, small: 
mandibles conic, whitish, with a fascicle of sericeous fulvous hair 
on the inner base : maxilla as long as the antennae, papillaceous 
towards the tip: palpi densely covered with short, equal scales, 
which are intermixed rufous and white; second joint much 
longer than the first; third joint very distinct, conic, linear; 
thorax vinaceous with more or less of olivaceous, particularly 
on the sides: superior wings vinaceous towards the posterior 
margin obsoletely olivaceous ; a little above and partly on the 
second bifurcation of the post costal nervure is an oblique sub- 
qval, blackish spot, in which are paler scales, forming almost a 
double pupil; posterior to this spot is an obsolete, much undu¬ 
lated, interrupted, dull rufous line, reaching the anal margin 
near the middle and the costal margin at two thirds the distance 
from the humerus; behind this line is a less distinct one, and in 
some specimens a still less distinct one towards the base of the 
wing, accompanied by a small spot: inferior wings on the inferior 
page with a slight, slender, rufous band : anterior tibia with a 
6pine : posterior tibia with spines on the middle and tip: claws, 
distinct, emarginate beneath. 
Length to tip of superior wings nine-tenths of an inch. 
Larva sixteen-footed, spotted ; ej r es spotted; beneath immacu¬ 
late, simple. Pupa simple, dark chestnut or blackish ; three of 
the abdominal segments with dilated, rufous, posterior margins. 
In the above description, if any errors occur as respects color, 
you pan rectify them from more recent and perfect specimens. 
With these moths a single individual occurs of the Noctua lota 
Linn. Whether or not this is a confederate of the xylina in de¬ 
stroying the cotton plant, you are best able to judge; but I should 
rather suppose that its ravages are not particularly directed 
against that plant, and that its presence here is rather fortuitous. 
One of the small vials contains a Gryllotalpa americana. 
I take the earliest conveyance for this letter in hopes it may 
reach you early enough to be of some utility. 
Yours, &c., 
T. SAY. 
