NOCTUIDAE. By W. Warren, 
31 
2. Family: Noctuidae. 
The insects included under the term Noctuidae are of general distribution throughout the world, and exhi¬ 
bit among themselves in the imago state immense variety in size, shape, and coloration, but are all alike diffe¬ 
rentiated from other families (except the Agaristidae) by their neuration. The large majority are, as the name 
implies, nightfliers, hiding by day in convenient shelters among trees, shrubs, and low plants, or resting with 
closed wings on the trunks of trees or on rocks, to which their coloration is assimilated, and coming forth at dark 
to feast upon the juices of flowers and fruits, and to search for their mates. Those which fly by day, 
such as Heliothis and allied genera, are brighter coloured, and can hardly be distinguished either by structure 
or habits from the Agaristidae, the separation of the latter being, I think, purely one of convenience. 
Of the great bulk of the species the larvae also feed by night and conceal themselves by day under 
foliage close to the ground, and in some cases by actually burrowing beneath it; these are, as a rule, dull 
coloured and difficult of differentiation; on the other hand, those which feed by day, as Heliothis and some 
Cucullia are of brighter coloration and more easily distinguished. All are smooth, or nearly so, except those 
of the Acronictinae and Mominae, and in a less degree the Bryophilinae which are variously adorned with 
tufts or series of hairs. These last, as well as the larvae of the later groups, including the Plusianae ( Phytome- 
trinae), the Catocalinae, and the Deltoidinae, spin a cocoon for pupation above ground, whereas the rest of the 
Noctuidae pupate in the earth. 
In the arrangement of the Noctuidae belonging to the Palaearctic Fauna only one subfamily, the Acro¬ 
nictinae, was employed to include all those genera, whose larvae are more strongly clothed with tufts of hairs; 
for in. it only the first two genera, Panthea and Moma, — including between them but three species, and the 
genera Anacronicta and Xanthomantis — with four species only, — differ from the rest in having the eyes of the 
imago hairy. In the Indo-oriental Fauna these proportions are greatly altered, the species with hairy eyes 
becoming more numerous; and these are accordingly separated from the Acronictinae, and the subfamily Momi¬ 
nae, as proposed by Hampson, introduced for them. 
It will also be necessary, in working out this Fauna, — as indeed has already been the case hi the 
Palaearctic, — to adopt the more elaborate subdivision proposed by Hampson ; so that whereas Staudinger, 
in his restricted treatment of the Palaearctic Fauna, employed only 5 subfamily groups, the number of these 
will be increased to 17. The 5 subfamilies of Staudinger are the Acronictinae, with hairy larvae; the Trifi¬ 
dinae, including the true Noctuae; the Gonopterinae, with angled outer margins to the wings; the Quadrifidinae, 
comprising the largest members of the family; and the Hypeninae or Deltoids, characterised by the largely de¬ 
veloped palpi and generally weaker build. Hampson’s subfamilies are the Euxoinae, (Agrotinae ), with spined 
tibiae; the Hadeninae, with hairy eyes; the Cucullianae, with the eyes fringed by overhanging cilia; and the 
Amphipyrinae (Acronyctinae, Hmps.) with none of the three preceding characteristics: — these four, together 
with the subfamilies M elide ptriinae and Heliothidinae, which I have added, containing the species with claw¬ 
bearing fore tibiae and narrowed eyes respectively, constitute the main part of Staudinger’s Trifidinae, charac¬ 
terised by the weak obsolescent vein 5 of hindwings and the presence of all prolegs in the larvae; of the next 
subfamilies the Erastrianae, with vein 5 of hindwing variable, but with the larval prolegs incomplete, and the 
Eutelianae, Stictoperinae, Sarrothripinae, Acontianae, and Hyblaeinae, with vein 5 of hindwing strong, but 
with the larval prolegs complete, are all six, to that extent, unstable, agreeing in one part with those which 
precede, in the other with those that follow; inter se, the Eutelianae and Stictoperinae are distinguished by the 
simple frenulum of the $; the Sarrothripinae and Acontianae by the bar-shaped retinaculum of the $; and the 
H yblaeinae by the presence of maxillary palpi; the remaining subfamilies, the Catocalinae, with hairy eyes, the 
Plusianae, with the eyes overhung by cilia, the Noduinae, with smooth eyes, and the Hypeninae with veins 4, 
5 of hindwings parallel, agree in having vein 5 of hindwing strongly developed, while the prolegs of their larvae 
are incomplete; these last four subfamilies form the Quadrifidinae of Staudinger; of the intermediate sub¬ 
families, the Erastrianae, Eutelianae and Stictoperinae are included in his Trifidinae, while the Acontianae and 
Sarrothripinae form part of his family Cymbidae. 
The neuration of the Noctuidae is on the whole surprisingly constant. It is generally as follows: vein 
1 c is absent; vein 2 rises from well before the end of the cell; vein 3 from close to 4; vein 5, the lower 
radial, always nearer to 4 than to 6; vein 6 from the upper angle of cell; veins 7, 8 and 9, 10 are stalked, 
8 and 9 anastomosing to form the areole; 11 is free, from the cell. In the hindwing the costal anasto¬ 
moses with the subcostal at a point only, near base (abnormally, in certain instances, for one half of cell); 
veins 3, 4 and 6, 7 generally from the ends of the cell; vein 5 is either strong and perfect, or weak and obso¬ 
lescent. 
