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A REVISION OF THE AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GELECHIID.E, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. B}^ August Busck, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Since Dr. C. V. Riley's I^ist of Tineina^ nothing has been published on thi.s group in America except isolated descriptions of single species and their life histories. Dr. Riley followed the classification generally in use at that time, founded on Stainton's and lieinemann'.s works, although Edward Mey- rick' previoush" had published his masterly rearrangement of the group based on natural evolutionary lines, a work which, as Lord Walsingham has said,^ after the fuller exploitation of the system in the Handbook of British Lepidoptera, "marks an epoch in the study of these insects.""- Since then the views of Meyrick have been generally adopted and great strides have been made by European specialists in the study of these insects. A much more satisfactory appreciation of the value and relatioUiship of the genera and families now prevails than was formerly the case. The following arrangement of the American Gelechiidse consists in the application to the American fauna of the results of these advanced studies. In this work I have been greatl}' assisted ))y Mr. Edward Meyrick. Numerous concrete questions have been made clear for me by his valu- able assistance, which he has most liberal I3' and untiring!}" extended. Much kind help also has been received from Lord Walsingham and Mr. John Hartley Durrant, whose large collections and intimate knowledge of the iVmerican forms mad(^ their aid particularly valual^le. Without the previous work and the liberal help and encouragement from these authorities in England my task would have been much more difficult, if not an impossible one. As a basis for this paper I have examined all the authentic material of former workers which is still in existence on this side of the Atlantic, too-ether with much new material. In J. B. Smith's List Lep. Bor. Am., 1891. ^^rans. Ent. Soc, London, 1883. ='Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1897. Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXV—No. 1304. 767 7()8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. From Miss Mary Murtfeldt, the Nestor among students in this group in America, I have received not only material but also much interesting information, which no one else could have supplied, par- ticularl}^ concerning some of Chambers' species. To Prof. C. H. Fernald and to Dr. William G. Dietz I am under obligation for allowing me to study their collections in their homes, also for various suggestions and for specimens. Professor Fernald's collection included that of Miss Murtfeldt, with her types and man}^ of the types of Chambers and of Lord Walsing- ham. Of especial value were those specimens furnished with Lord Walsinghanrs blue labels, which were passed upon by him in 1882.^ A notebook in Lord Walsingham's handwriting, with notes and deter- minations, corresponding to the numbers on these blue labels, was loaned me by Professor Fernald, thus enabling me also to verify iden- tifications of man\^ specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, especially those which formerly belonged to the Peabody Academy of Science, in Salem, Massachusetts. Dr. Dietz \s collection contained his types and several specimens named by Lord Walsingham. The collection in the museum in Caml)ridge contains nearly all of Zeller's types and a great many of Chamliers', besides the specimens named ])v Lord Walsingham. This collection proved the richest of any in authentic specimens, and although careful discrimination was necessary among Chambers' types, many species were identified here which would otherwise have remained unknown to me. I am indebted to Mr. Sanmel Henshaw for nuich courtesy and information given me during my stay in Cambridge, as well as for sending me many speci- mens needed for reexamination after my return to Washington. The collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences has unfortunately but a few of Clemens' types left. There are, however, some types and specimens named by Lord Walsingham. To the cura- tor, Dr. H. Skinner, I owe thanks for giving me every facility for examining the collection and manuscripts. The Belanger collection, formerly in the Laval University, Quebec, containing Cham})ers' types of Canadian Tineina, was obtained by the writer through the courtesy of the present curator, Rev. Dr. C. E. Dionne. and is now in the U. S. National Museum. What little was left of the late Mr. William Saunders' colli'ction of Tineina, consisting of fraguK^nts of some of Chambers' types, was secured, together with some new Canadian material for the U. S. National Museum, through the kind agency of Dr. J. Fletcher, Ottawa, Canada. From Mr. William D. Kearfott I received for study a well-pre- Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, Phila., X, 165-204. NO. 1304. REVISION OF AMERICAN GELECmiD MOTHS—EVSCK. 769 served collection of about 800 unnamed American Gelecliiidaj with the most liberal permission to retain desired specimens. Smaller collections, on similar liberal conditions, have been received from Mr. Nathan Banks and through Dr. Harrison G. Dyar from Dr. \Y. Barnes and Prof. C. P. Gillette. llev. Dr. Fyles has kindly sent me certain specimens and informa- tion. Finall}^ and principally, there was the collection in the U. S. National Museum, which contains many types of Rile}^ Murtfeldt, Walsing- ham. Chambers, and Zeller, besides a great many specimens deter- mined b}' Lord Walsingham and Mr. William Beutenmiiller, together with a considerable number of bred or collected miscellaneous specimens, including the collections of Dr. H. G. Dyar, in Florida, Colorado, and elsewhere; of Mr. E. A. Schwarz, in Texas, Arizona, and Colorado; of Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, in New Mexico; of Messrs. Coquillett and Koebele, in California; and fine series of many species, with notes, bred during many years in the insectary of the United States Department of Agriculture, largely by Mr. Th. Pergande. The Museum also contains Dr. Ottmar Hofmann's large collection of excellently mounted specimens of European species, authentically determined, which naturally has proved of very valuable assistance. Mr. Coquillett has kindly given me his private notes on some of his bred specimens. These are credited under the species. To Dr. Harrison G. Dyar I owe much gratitude for the continued interest and encouragement given me during my studies, as well as for actual help, and last, but not least, for aid in reading and correct- ing this manuscript and proofs. The purpose of the present paper is not to present an exhaustive monographical treatise on American Gelechiidse. The group is not well enough known as yet for such treatment. It is rather a revision of what has already been done, so that future work may proceed on a sounder foundation. The genus Gelechia has been for former workers much as Chambers expressed it, ''a waste box, a convenient receptacle for every species which could not be better disposed of." ^ Such new genera as were erected from this miscellaneous aggrega- tion, especially those separated by Chambers, were most frequently given insufficient characterization. To study these genera critically, to substantiate and define more fully those which were found tenable, and to eliminate those erected on superficial characters, and then to place as far as possible the described species where they belong has been the principal object of the writer. For this reason I have described only about 60 new species, such as ^Can. Ent., IX, p. 231, Proc. N. M. vol. XXV—02 4D ^ 770 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. had been either bred or belonged to some specially interesting group or were so comnionl}" received for determination as to make a name for them desirable. If my purpose had been to describe new species, four times as many could as easily have been found in the material at my disposal, but it was believed that the ultimate benefit to science would be better served by leaving these many species unnamed until they have been bred or at least had been obtained in larger and more well-preserved series than we have at present. Of the 43 genera included in the famil}^ Gelechiida? in Riley's list, 21 have been removed to other families and 8 more have been found to be synonyms of other genera; while, on the other hand, one genus has been recovered from another family in Riley's list, 5 old genera of American authors have been resurrected, f) genera from other faunas have been identified in America, and 6 new genera have been added, of which 3 are described in the present paper, thus making 35 genera now recognized as North American. In Riley's list the genus Gelechla contained the large number of 213 species, not counting most of Walker's species and some others which were omitted. The number has now been reduced to less than 100, and of these 54 remain in the genus only because they are unrecognized, and they are therefore liable to be removed to some other genera when identified. These unrecognized species are the great drawback to work in this group. The 13^308 and all authentic material of most of them are lost, and the descriptions furnish no clew to their proper genera, rendering recognition very difficult and uncertain. Still several of them may be rediscovered, especially l)y diligent search in Chambers' old collecting grounds in Kentucky, from where, practi- cally, no material has been received since his death. The collections of the British Museum remain to be studied; there should be found the types of Walker's unrecognized species, as well as some of Clemens', which he sent to Stainton forty years ago.

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