12G6 
XYLEUTES. By H . G. Dyar f. 
phobifera. 
xylotriba. 
ramosa. 
dcsdcmona. 
pyracmon. 
lelex. 
strigillata. 
mclanoleuca. 
masoni 
domen is densely clad with black spatulate hair. Both wings are finely reticulated with black, creating the im¬ 
pression of a large Neuroptera. The is indistinctly marked, the $ exhibits a large quadrangular blackish spot 
at the cell-end and a few irregularly angled black lines and small spots between the veins at the apex of the 
wing. If — as the name says — the larva of this large Cossida bores in the trunk of bananas, it would surely 
do much harm occasionally, yet nothing has been reported about this so far. 
C. phobifera sp. n. Wings long and narrow, the hindwing sharply triangular, excavated at the distal 
margin. Forewing dark brown, black at the costal and inner margins, the colours unnoticeably passing over into 
each other, veins blackened, the ground-colour scantily strewn light. Body black, the thorax in front projecting 
far beyond the bases of the forewings. Hindwing black. Expanse of wings: 32 mm. According to a much dam¬ 
aged H specimen, the distal margins of the forewings broken, the hindwings partly without scales. The type in 
the National Museum at Washington. Paraguay, Villa Rica, taken in March (P. Jorgensen). 
2. Genus: Xyleutes Him. 
Both sexes similarly marked, the § $ much larger than the <$<$ and generally somewhat more indistinctly 
marked. Forewing with a long narrow areole, projecting far behind the cell, veins 7 and 8 arising stalked from 
its apex, 9 united with them or on a short stalk; 10 arises from before the end of the areole, 11 from near its 
base; discal vein forked in both wings. Cell of hindwing flatly incurved, veins 7 and 8 remote from each other. 
8 free. <$ antennae bipectinate in the basal halves, plain at the tips, plain in the §. 
Type: X. crassa Drury from West Africa. 
X. xylotriba H.-Schdjf. (181 b, c). A very large species, the thorax covered with dingy white scales. 
Forewing broadly wood-brown along the costal margin almost to the apex, more or less lighter yellowish along 
the middle, bordered below by an irregular black band which is several times angularly indented or interrupted, 
so that a quadrangular spot is in the centre. Interior area dingy white, reticulated black, the inner margin 
shaded darker. Hindwing shaded dull wood-brownish, the reticular marking often blurred. $ lighter .and less 
distinctly marked, only slightly brown at the costal margin. Costa Rica to Argentina. 
X. ramosa Schs. (= aeetes Drc., ramuscula Dyar) (181 c). Small or medium-sized, the costal-marginal 
half of the forewing rusty brownish, turning more blackish at its upper and lower edges with a black dent along 
the base of vein 2 as far as the submedian vein; this brown area generally reaches the apex, not always in more 
southern specimens (from Brazil and Bolivia); the interior half of the wing is white with vertical black striae 
which are reticularly confluent at the distal margin. Hindwing white. $ with more rounded wings, similar mark¬ 
ings, the hindwing dark grey. Texas, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay. 
X„ desdemona sp. n. Head and collar black, thorax and abdomen dingy white. Costal half of forewing 
quite blackish brown except a few black reticular markings towards the distal margin; interior half dingy white, 
striated black, assuming a reticular marking towards the margin. Hindwing tinged with grey. It may be merely 
a form of ramosa , though none of my 37 specimens agrees with them. According to 1 from Espiritu Santo, 
the type in the U. S. National Museum, November (J. Arp, Coll. Dognin). 
X, pyracmon Cr. (= pyracmonides Schs.. putrida Perch., palmarum H.-Schdjf., cognata Drc. nec Wlcr.), 
fracta Whr. (181 d) is a well known and common species; forewing dingy white, with black transverse striae, more 
reticulated outwardly; a large blackish brown wedge at the base of the costal margin, connected with, or separated 
from, a brown undulated longitudinal band through the centre of the wing growing narrower outward. Hindwing 
more or less tinged with brown, reticulated towards the margin. Fringe spotted black. The $ is larger, the mark¬ 
ings are sometimes very indistinct. — lelex Dgn. is based upon an indistinctly marked $ from Merida (Venezuela), 
but similar specimens may be occasionally found everywhere. Mexico to Brazil. The larva presumably bores in 
the tiamks of palms, if Herrich-Schaffer’s name be well founded. 
X. strigillata Fldr. resembles pyracmon, but the body and wings are throughout dull smoky brown, the 
dark longitudinal band on the forewing is black. From Argentina. 
X. melanoleuca Burm. is a dark smoky brown species like strigillata, but the markings are more distinctly 
reticular and the dark longitudinal band is divided into 3 spots, the basal costal-marginal spot of which is quite 
indistinct, the middle one quadrangular, and the exterior one thin. Argentina. 
X. masoni Schs. (167 e). Body and forewing light smoky grey, the black central longitudinal band is 
narrow in the basal third of the costal margin and in the lower half of the cell as well as at the base of the 
veins 4 and 5, and bordered below by a broad dull brown area which extends to the submedian vein; a discal 
