Abstract

The Thyatiridae have had a strange fate. The first recognition of their unity, as represented by the name Bombycia (in the Verzeichniss appearing only in the plural, Bombyciae) in Hübner's various works, has been generally ignored, and the name transferred to a Noctuid genus, following its casual misuse by Stephens. At the other end of the line we have three recent revisions: the one by Houlbert almost silently passes over the tropical and most of the American species, limiting itself to the Palearctic Region; its keys are based largely on details of pattern. The review in Seitz is limited to brief descriptions of the genera, without keys or as a rule even statements of contrasted characters, and still briefer descriptions, helped out by colored figures, of the species.