16 
NOCTUIDAE. General Topics. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
The Cuculliinae in America exhibit almost exactly the same exterior as in the Old World, since grey, 
brown and variegated forms also occur there. Certainly they are chiefly at home in North America. But then 
there appears again, distantly separated by wooded districts poor in Cucullia, to the south a parallel form to 
our European silvery Cucullia , Cucullia ( Empusada) argyrina. Not only by its exterior but also by its be¬ 
haviour it copies so exactly the palearctic Cue. argentina that both, if they were not separated by oceans, 
could not be distinguished in the open air. Their habit of resting on the barbed wire poles and, in case 
they are scared up, of settling down on blades again at a distance of about 10 to 20 m, I found to be quite 
the same in Montevideo in the west ( argyrina) and in Constantine in the east {argentina ). 
As to the Amphipyrinae, the number of species occurring in America is by far superior to that 
of the Old World. Some European species, such as Amphip. pyramidea, Dipterygia scabriuscula etc. have 
scarcely changed in America. Of the Parastichtis there occur again exactly 50 percent in America, therefore 
as many as in the whole other world together; as to the Trachea and allied genera the proportion is still 
more in favour of America, but on the western hemisphere there do not occur any forms similar to the 
few eastern forms distinguished by their size and colouring, such as Mania maura and Orthogonia sera. 
The Melicleptriinae and Heliothidinae form not very extensive groups of mostly brightly coloured 
Noctuids also flying in day time. Chloridea obsoleta, feared by the cotton-planters as Heliothis armiger, is 
the noxious ,,cottonworm“ which has already caused quite a literature on its noxiousness and preventative 
means. Exactly like in the Old World this insect spares immense districts also in America, occurring not 
at all or but quite rarely, in order to reappear in numberless multitudes beyond a certain, natural barrier. 
Similar to its flying in the Old World from England to the Cape of Good Hope and Melbourne and from 
Spain to Japan, we cannot find any place in America from Canada to Patagonia that is secure from this 
vermin, because it makes its appearance wherever the primeval forest, which it seems to shun, is cleared for 
cultivating purposes. 
The Erastriinae containing now already more than 1200 well-known, mostly rather small species 
are distributed over the whole globe, but they are predominantly tropical in America as well as on the 
eastern hemisphere. They chiefly prefer open districts and arid soil; arid steppes and stony hillsides often 
contain immense numbers of these white or variegated insects. That is why chiefly Africa is inhabited by 
a great number of species some of which are extremely variegated. In America the species especially in¬ 
crease in the prairy-states of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, in South America in Uruguay and Argentina. The 
Spragueia, Conochares, Tarachidia etc. contain numerous small, though elegantly and contrastingly coloured 
species. A great number of genera belonging hereto are entirely confined to America. 
The Eutelianae with bare, unciliated eyes, and unspined tibiae generally armed with hair-combs, are 
not a large group, but they contain rather peculiar shapes. The strange attitude of repose characterizing the 
European Eutelia adulatrix is also exhibited by the American species of this genus, resting head downwards 
on trunks and planks, with their wings spread obliquely downwards and bending their abdominal end up¬ 
wards. On the whole, the number of American Eutelianae is but small; Stictoptera with the peculiarly hyaline, 
but thickly black-margined hindwings occur only singly and they are mostly only taken by the lantern; 
there are no such odd creatures at all in America as the African Gigantoceras with antennae longer than 
the body, thickly protruding eyes and spider-like long legs. 
The Sarrothripinae, generally recognizable by their flat structure and the appressed hairing of the 
body, altogether only contain about 350 forms. There are no genuine Sarrothripus in America at all, but 
the palearctic Gadirtha with subuliform palpi and being pantalooned have parallel forms on the western hemi¬ 
sphere in the Iscadia, Pucialia, Lophosema and other genera, although there do not occur such magnificient 
forms as for instance Eligma in the Old World. 
The Acontianae are the best represented of the allied groups, and most elegant creatures are the 
Eugraphia the name of which already alludes to their beauty, and the neat though little Tarache. — Enti¬ 
rely absent, however, are the grass-green Noctuids from the group of the Earias, Hylophila and Tyana. 
About the Catocalinae we have already told something in the preface to this volume. In North America 
they are represented by about 200 forms, disappearing almost entirely on passing over into the Mexican 
desert and not reappearing anymore to the south of it. In South America, however, there occur some species 
of the similarly coloured Ophideres, although they do not play there the important part which they do in the 
Old World. But just that species which is suspected to be the most noxious to the fruit-crop by pricking with 
their pointed proboscis into the fruits, numbers among the few Noctuids being common to both South 
America and the Old World. 
The Plusiae neither differ in America from their behaviour which is invariable in nearly all the 
countries of the globe. The number of the abundantly metallic-marked species is also in America larger 
