Wn. M. Barnes and A. W. Lindsey.
Notes on Noctuidae, with Descriptions of Some New Species (Lep.).
Psyche 28:156-159, 1921.

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156 Psyche [Oct.-Dec.
NOTES ON NOCTUIDB WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES (LEP.).
BY WM. M. BARNES, M. D. AND A. W. LINDSEY, PH. D., Decatur, Illinois.
Prochloridea madonna n. sp.
Head and thorax clothed with a mixture of gray, whitish and mixed hairs and scales. Palpi dark gray outside, whitish within. Antennas ciliate in the 8 . Abdomen shining grayish, touched with clay yellow.
Primaries with vestiture mixed black, whitish and gray scales in about equal parts, with two broad, light brown stripes radiating from base of cell toward apex and oval angle respectively. These stripes are sometimes scarcely visible, but are usually quite evident. T. a. line irregular, oblique, with a prominent tooth in costal region, one on cubital stem and one on anal vein; usually very vague but someties well marked; single, pale gray, marked on costa by one or two blackish dots. T. p. line also pale gray, pre- ceded by a fine dark shade, outwardly curved around end of cell and rather even except on this bend, where it is finely dentate; near the inner margin it curves basad. Orbicular and renifonn very vague, sometimes evident as dark central spots surrounded by pale margins. In the terminal space there is a variable number of short longitudinal black dashes between the veins. fringes with alternating light and dark patches of a "pepper and salt" appear- ance similar to the primaries. Secondaries white with a slight sprinkling, of dark scales in the outer third, usually localized on the veins, and a similar terminal line. fringes white with a few dark scales. Female similar. Expanse 31 to 33 mm. Holotype 8, allotype, 13 paratypes 8 and 3 paratypes 9 from Olancha, Inyo Co., Cal., June 8-30, July, Aug., in coll. Barnes. Madonna is smaller and more grayish than the three females i!i the type series of modesta B. & McD., and the median line of the secondaries is very rarely suggested. In spite of these differences we should not be surprised to find that it is only a race of the



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19211 Notes on Noctuidce 157
older species. Unfortunately the lack of males of modesta prevents our checking their relationship by an examination of the genitalia. Lygranthoecia meskeana and rufimedia Grt. These species are treated as synonymous in Smith's "Synopsis of the North American Heliothinse5' (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. X, 235) and the latter is regarded as an aberration of the former by Hamp- son (Cat. Lep. Phal. B. M. IV, 65). We have recently had reason to consider these species, and find that the shades of the upper surface are so variable as to be confusing. On the lower surface, however, the pale areas are decidedly yellowish in rufimedia, but whitish in Meskeana. This difference appears to occur irrespective of sex or locality, and seems to be the most convenient criterion for the separation of the two.
Lasionycta perplexa Sm.
'This species is listed in the genus Lasiestra Hampson, which is 'characterized in the original description as having thoracic vesti- ture of rough hair. Lasionycta Auriv., 011 the other hand, is said to possess thoracic vestiture of hair and hair-like scales. The vesti- ture of perplexa is distinctly scaly and much less rough than in the other North American species which we retain in Lasiestra, and we therefore advocate its transfer to Lasionycta. Nephelodes mendica n. sp.
Head and thorax with pinkish-brown vestiture, the hairs pale tipped. Abdomen more grayish with the usual clay-colored tinge. Primaries similar, sprinkled with blackish scales along the veins. Median area filled with brown from radial stem to inner margin. T. A. line pale, oblique, vague.
T. P. line simiate, geminate,
formed of a rather broad pale line preceded by a fine, dark shade, and very slightly creimlate. Orbicular and reniform variable in shade, in the holotype pale, with a few darker scales in the center. In one of the paratypes these spots are scarcely differentiated, except the outer part of the reniform, which is pale, and in the other they are concolorous, margined with darker scales. Median
shade dark, vague. S. T. line faintly indicated by a contrasting dark shade, which is most noticeable in the costal region. Fringes



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158 Psyche [Oct.-Dec.
concoloro~~s, with paler bases.
One paratype is much paler arid
more evenly colored than the other specimens and has a series 01 terminal dark dashes. Secondaries white, veins darker; terminal area sparsely sprinkled with dark scales; fringes white. Expanse about 40 mm.
Three males from Eureka, Utah (Spalding) : holotype Sept. 21, paratype Sept. 21, and paratype Aug. 24, in coll. Barnes. This species appears to be most closely related to pectinata, and we place it at the head of the genus.
The peculiar shade of brown,
less smooth vestiture of primaries, and white secondaries, separate it readily from pectinata.
Langona gen. nov.
Proboscis aborted; palpi small, weak, slender, slightly drooping, not quite reaching front.
Front smooth, without projection; eyes
large, rounded.
Antennas of male bipectinate, the pectinations ciliate; of female lightly ciliated. Head and thorax clothed with scales with a few hairs intermixed, metathorax with a large tuft of spatulate scales. Pro- and mesothorax without tuft ( ?). Legs
moderate ; tibia without spines or claws. Abdomen without tufts.
Primaries with costa long, nearly straight; apex rounded-acute, outer margin strongly oblique, bent at Cu, secondaries relatively small, apex broadly rounded; outer margin bent between Cui and M3; anal angle broadly rounded. Vein Cul of primaries near end of cell; Cu2 about 4/5 from base; R4 and R'g stalked, anastornosing with Ro, out of R,, to form areole. Cui and M3 of secondaries contiguous at base ; M., obsolescent, from middle of discocellulars ; MI and R5 short-stalked.
Type : Langona grisescens n. sp.
Langona grisescens n. sp.
Head badly rubbed in type; apparently clothed with gray scales. Thorax badly rubbed in 9, slightly so in 8 's; vestiture of pale gray scales tipped with blackish, and with a few hair-like scales of the same color. Metathoracic tuft of whitish scales with the broad tips blackish, shining. Abdomen with pale brownish-gray vesti- lure. Primaries with gray scales tipped with blackish-brown and sprinkled with white scales in costal and apical half, giving the



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192,1] Notes on Noctuidce 15:)
wing a hoary gray appearance.
Transverse lines blackish; basal
line from costa to anal vein.
T. a. line oblique, bent outward before
anal vein in the
8, straight in the $ ; t. p. line bent outward below costa, where it is merged with a dark subapical shade, and more broadly in the median area, whence it curves inward to the inner margin, where it is followed by a small pale area. Sub- terminal area powdery gray; a fine, dark terminal line. Fringes concolorous. Eeniform faintly indicated in all types and orbic- ular in 8's pale, with a darker edge. Secondaries powdery brown- ish-gray, paler at base. Fringes paler. Under surface of primaries even gray-brown with the sub-apical shade set off by some white powdering.
Secondaries paler than above; terminal area and a discal spot darker. Expanse 24-27 mm.
Holotype
8, Palmerlee, Ariz., allotype, S. W. Ariz., and para- type 8, Hereford, Ariz., in coll. Barnes. The species looks not unlike an Acopa, but is quite distinct from that genus.
Although no members of this sub-family have yet been reported from our limits, we think that it must be accorded a place in our lists for the reception of Grote's genus Tridiocosmia and both of the included species, inornata Grt. and drasteroides Smith. In
both of these species the eyes are sparsely hairy and vein Ma of - the secondaries is very evidently nearer to M3 than to MI. They run to this subfamily in Hampson's key to the subfamilies of Noc- tuida? (Cat. Lep. Phal. B. M. IV, 3 and 4).



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