ACRONICTINAE; COLOCASIA. By Dr. M. Draudt. 
i 
in the temperate zone than in the tropics being otherwise so rich in metallic colours. In America we do 
not find any Plusiae so luxuriantly laden with gold as some palearctic species are, such as Plusia chrysitis 
or zosimi. 
The real Noctuinae, a group composed of so numerous and multiform components that nothing per¬ 
taining to them as a whole may be stated, are already in our palearctic fauna represented by more than 
100 genera; unparallelled, however, is their great number in America, especially in the neotropical districts. 
We have already mentioned above the gigantic forms ( Thysania , Erebus, Letis ) occurring there. Thysania 
agrippina for its enormous size is even known to a layman in South America and is in Brazil publicly 
known by the name of ,,0 imperador“ (which must not be mistaken for the ,,Emperor-Moth“ of the United 
States, being a Ceratocampida). The members of this group are extremely fond of the light, and cpiite a 
number is hardly ever captured in another way than by the lantern. Only the very large species are du¬ 
ring daytime sometimes met with beneath bridges and roofs, but nearly all the smaller species come to the 
bait, although this mode of capturing is in the tropics mostly not so profitable as in the temperate zone. 
As to the last group, the Hypeninae, America abounds in them. The excessive formation of the palpi, 
being almost general in this group, sometimes attains in South American specimens such a degree that the 
palpi, even after they have been closely clapped together must be laid back in a long bend over the thorax 
and abdomen in order not to check their faculty of motion. In other genera the palpi have become fluffy 
wool-pads the single joints of which are connected by folding-articulations, in order to be clapped together. 
Other groups again exhibit beside abnormously developed palpi also indentations in the wings or anomalies 
on the legs. 
In the preface to this volume we have already mentioned the fact that America is to be regarded 
as the most important continent for the family of the Noctuidae, and the short sruvey of the Noctuid 
fauna of the western hemisphere which we supplied here, has shown us that in America the Noctuids pre¬ 
dominate by their size, polymorphism and number. As to the above-mentioned approximate number of Ame¬ 
rican Noctuids known, we may add yet that they excel the Indo-Australian Noctuids by more than double 
the number and that of the African (Ethiopian) three times, and that of the palearctic about four times. 
1. Subordinate Family: Aeronictinae. 
What was said about the grouping of the Agaristidae, is here also the case: they are a mixture 
of quite heterogeneous subordinate groups of Noctuids, partly belonging to the so-called Trifinae, partly to 
the Quadrifinae ; but in order not to upset the total structure of the work we nevertheless follow the observance 
adapted in the other volumes and having hitherto been adhered to in most of the other works. 
The only common feature are the haired larvae which are partly also provided with pencils or brushes. 
As to the veins, nothing pertaining to them in common can be said, the hindwing exhibiting in some 
species a well-developed middle radial which is in others again feeble or entirely absent. In the Mominae the 
eyes are hairy, in the others they are bare. They are mostly medium-sized or large species, almost throughout 
strong, partly, at least in the latter group, with rather variegated markings. 
Subordinate Group: Mominae. 
Mostly rather large, strong insects, very well characterized by their densely haired eyes and by the presence of a 
strong middle radial of the hindwing rising below the centre of the' transverse vein. 
The larvae, as far as they are known, exhibit hair on the tubercles, some with dorsal pencils, and live on trees, parti¬ 
cularly conifers. 
1. Genus: Colocasia Hbn. 
Proboscis stunted; palpi porrect and long-haired, projecting a little beyond the smooth irons. Male 
antennae bi-combed. Thorax and legs long-haired, abdomen with dorsal hair-tufts. 
C. flavicornis Smith (2 a). The whitish forewing is dusted with brown and exhibits several dentate flavicom 
lines like all the other species. The inner-marginal half of the discal area is cpiite dark, so is the basal area. 
In contradistinction to the sometimes rather similar propinquilinea, the transverse stripes are connected on 
the submedian fold. United States, in May. 
C. electa Smith is quite similarly marked, likewise with a darkened inner-marginal half as far as the electa. 
discal area inclusively, but the forewing is bluish-grey, dusted with blackish; the anterior transverse line is on 
