Ground variable from dull orange marked with dull indian red to dull ochre, marked with fuscous; more mottled than the other species; antemedial and postmedial lines similar, double, the line facing the median area continuous, the other weaker and often punctiform in the postmedial; antemedial nearly straight and erect; postmedial irregular, the inner line showing teeth on M1 and M2 and below, but concave across M2 and more strongly across fold; orbicular normally a paler filled ring; reniform when fully developed broad-reniform, with an orange inner lunule followed by a small but thick rounded spot, flanked above and below by light points, the lower one preceded by a blackish spot, often with the central outer spot pale or even white, the points at upper and lower ends either white or obscure, or the lower one white; claviform and narrow oblong, sometimes absent; subterminal line pale, irregular, preceded by a series of patches of the darker reddish or fuscous, and followed by a more continuous shade. Hind wing light fuscous with pale fringe and costal area. 30-35 mm.

October to April. Larva (Dyar) warm deep brown, with dorsal and subdorsal lines weak, and a broad stigmatal line tinted with orange yellow.

Nova Scotia to British Columbia and Washington, south to the vicinity of Washington, D.C. and Colorado.

This, the preceding and following species are distinguished from all other Noctuidae discussed here by the wing scales, which are narrow, somewhat curled, with the two outermost teeth drawn out into long divergent curving spines, which interlock and give the wings a sort of shredded wheat effect. The wings are somewhat broader than in vinulenta, with a duller look and a rather brick red color; the antemedial line usually shows some waviness; the lines are rather narrow and often quite inconspicuous; the reniform spot is yellow (typical), white or pale orange, and with a tendency to be rounder than in vinulenta. The outer margin of the fore wing is almost straight but shows in absolutely fresh specimens the typical toothed margin, but much rounded over. Some specimens show a vague hint of the orbicular. The male genitalia are distinguished from vinulenta most easily by the shape of the juxta (fig. c21) which is rather short and wide without a narrow projecting apical part. Females have a bursa with four signa and the ductus bursae with a chitinized area near the entrance into the bursa. 38-40 mm.

September to April. Larva (vinulenta of Thaxter); full grown in mid June; dorsum dark olive green, mottled, sides dirty wine color, somewhat mottled; dorsal and subdorsal white lines rather distinct, traces of a white lateral, and a not very strong stigmatal, suffused with purplish; beneath livid red-purple at anterior end.

Massachusetts south to the vicinity of D.C., common at Lakehurst, N.J.; west to Colorado. The race colorado Smith is duller and less red in color.

Wing scaling similar to the last, but not quite so striking toward the terminal area. This species is browner than either sidus or vinulenta; the outer margin of the wing is very strikingly crenulate, the teeth almost as pronounced as in the European transversa; in fresh specimens the wings are a deep umber brown, fading to reddish brown; the reniform spot is round and large, and in some specimens a deep fire-orange, as well as white or orange; the lines are more conspicuous than in sidus, the antemedial showing as a wide grayish line in most specimens; the wings are about as broad as in sidus. The male genitalia are immediately distinguishable from sidus and vinulenta by the presence of a large, central, conical process on the juxta, appearing much like a blister in mounts; the female genitalia are distinctive in that they possess only two signa and the ductus bursae has no heavy outstanding chitinizations. 36-40 mm.

[ Line missing in Larva Section ] ....some reticulation on the sides above the ocelli. Cervical shield dark brown with a wide, pale line on each side, this continuing back on the thoracic and abdominal segments as a very faint, narrow, pale subdorsal line on each side. The dorsum of all segments velvety, dark greenish brown, the sides somewhat lighter and with an indication of very vague reticulations; lateral line narrow on the thoracic segments, widening on the abdominal segments, white with a pinkish tint, most intense on last two or three abdominal segments; venter pale yellowish with a strong greenish cast, some pinkish hues below lateral line, most noticeable on thoracic segments. Foodplant: Prunus serotina.

Massachusetts south to the vicinity of Washington, D.C., where it is common, west to Manitoba and Pennsylvania.

Reddish brown, often with strong bluish or purplish shades, especially in the basal area between the antemedial line and base of the wing and in the subterminal and terminal areas, varying considerably in tint, and brighter in the fall than in the spring; the lines much as in the preceding species, but more evident, the antemedial a wide grayish-blue line with a darker brown inner line, the postmedial either light or dark, wide or narrow, often with accompanying dashes on the veins, somewhat sinuous, concave opposite cell and in fold, with slight teeth at M1, M3, Cu1 and Cu2; median shade dark, bent at middle, diffuse and often quite obscure; subterminal line an irregular dark and pale shade; reniform a small elliptical orange, yellow or white spot with white points at upper and lower ends, without the anterior crescent to fill out a normal reniform, or with a slender crescent running before the points, or with one or both points orange or yellow, usually with a gray dot before the lower point. Hind wing mostly fuscous, like the two preceding species, darker than tristigmata. 35-38 mm.

Late September to April. Larva (walkeri of Thaxter) above velvety black with purple shade and some greenish tinges; upper lines hardly visible; stigmatal white, somewhat obliterated at ends; underside bluish green, pinkish at anterior end; head rather broadly edged superiorly with light brown.

Ottawa west to Manitoba, south to the vicinity of Washington, D.C., common at Ithaca, N.Y., Lakehurst, N.J., and Arlington, Va., and south-west to Texas.

Light leather brown, without reddish tint, even when fresh; lines paler and more contrasting, almost perfectly even; the postmedial line a little waved on upper half; subterminal line pale in a slight dark shade, irregularly waved; reniform usually a very narrow pale or pale outline lunule with a small dark spot at lower end. 35-40 mm.

Late September to early May. Larva (Thaxter) mature in early June. Dull blackish with slight bluish green tinge and lateral dull purplish shade, obscurely mottled; lines bluish white, broken, but lateral more complete than dorsal; stigmatal line also bluish white. Tubercles black, ringed with bluish white, the subventrals larger; spiracles black.

Nova Scotia west to Lobo, Ontario; Maine west to Minnesota, south to the District of Columbia and Iowa; commoner in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts, than the preceding species.

Mouse gray, the basal third usually a little paler, frosted with whitish; lines whitish, hardly defined with dark antemedial line the strongest, and sometimes a little diffuse basally, oblique in, and slightly incurved; postmedial line somewhat sinuous, very fine and even; a following broad straight line from costa before apex (at subterminal line) to inner margin halfway between the postmedial and subterminal lines; subterminal line pale, irregular, nearly complete to obsolete. In fresh clean specimens the base, anterior subterminal area and border are a little grayer than the median and outer subterminal areas. Hind wing slightly paler, no red tint. The thoracic crest is higher and outer margins more even than the other species. 30-34 mm.

October to early May. Larva (Thaxter) mature in mid June. Dorsum nearly black, widening at midsegments; subdorsal line inconspicuous except at ends, edged with black; stigmatal broad, whitish with blackish shades, under side light greenish.

Nova Scotia west to British Columbia, south to the vicinity of the District of Columbia and into California in the west. Eupsilia fringata, a western species, is quite similar to devia, but larger and browner, resembling morrisoni in color and devia in pattern; its larva closer to morrisoni, but with a prominent wide purplish white spiracular line.