66 



The full synonymy, as far as ascertained, of the species enumerated will be found in other 

 works, accessible to the special student of the literature of the subject. My aim has been 

 to produce a good working "Check List," and not a full " Synonymical Catalogue." 

 But I have endeavoied chiefly to present a reliable Nomenclature ; to give the right generic 

 and specific names as far as possible and in every case. The condition of my health pre- 

 vented my working as continuously .as I wished upon the manuscript ; a work of this kind de- 

 mands steady and patient labor. 



With regard to the " Brooklyn Check List," it is for the most part a verbal copy of my 

 earlier lists" of the moths, while the species described since are very often neglected. It does 

 not give me credit, while taking my various catalogues as its guide, m the Zyganida and 

 Bombvcidce no less than in the Noctuidce ; in one instance a printer's error is copied, and it 

 can be easily shown not to have been compiled from the original descriptions of the species. 

 The mistakes are excessive, and where whole genera, numerous in species, are taken 

 from my publications, i. e., Agrotis, Hadena, Afamestra, etc., the printers seem to have set 

 up from my printed papers. The s'atement of its authors, that they have attempted any 

 sorting of Hubner's genera, can be shown to be a false one, quite independent of the fact 

 that they have, too evidently, neither the knowledge of the subject or its literature to under- 

 take such a task. After appropriating my work in this manner, they ask the Entomological 

 public to consider their List as the foundation for future Lists ! This is impossible, because 

 the foundation of future Lists is the source which the Brooklyn Check List drew upon so 

 generously, viz., my former Lists and Catalogues. I hope the Entomological public in 

 England and elsewhere will not be misled by the " preface " of the " Brooklyn Check List," 

 but will judge it by the facts. While our nomenclature is yet forming, such work is most 

 mischievous, owing to the obligations of the law of priority. Were our species all properly 

 described and named, such publications as those of the Brooklyn Committee would be passed 

 over in merited silence. It is hardly necessary to repeat that, since 1875, I have published 

 separate Lists of the principal genera of Noctuidce, restoring the name ot the describer of the 

 species. This the Brooklyn committee claim the credit of doing. 



The principal Catalogues and Lists of N. Am. Lepidoptera are as follows. The Butter- 

 flies have been catalogued by Mr. W. H. Edwards and Mr. Scudder. The Catalogue of 

 the latter, published in the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, is yet unfin- 

 ished. Beyond these two important Lists, which only concern the Butterflies, the others 

 are here given : 



1. Smithsonian Catalogue of North Am. Lepidoptera, by J. G. Morris, Washington, 1860. 



2. Synonymical Catalogue of North American Sphingidas, by A. R. Grote and C. T. Robin- 

 'son, Phila., 1865. 



3. List of the Lepidoptera of North America, by A. R. Grote and C. T. Robinson, I., 1868. 

 (Sphingidse to Bombycidas.) 



4. List of the Sphingidae, ^Egeriadse, Zygsenidge and Bombycidae of Cuba, by A. R. Grote, 

 ' Phila., 1869. , 



5. List of North American Tortricidag, Part I., by C. T. Robinson, New York, 1869. 



6. Catalogue of the Sphingidae of North America, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1873. 



7. Catalogue of the Zygaenidag of North America, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1873. 



8. List of the Noctuidag of North America, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1874. 



From the Sd Vol. of the Bulletin of the Society of Natural Sciences, which also contains two papers with additions to the 

 List. 



q. List of the North American Platypterices, Attaci, Hemileucini, Ceratocampidas, Lach- 

 neides, Teredines and Hepiali, with Notes by A. R. Grote, Am. Philosophical Society, 

 Phila., 1874. 



10. Check List of North American Noctuidae, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1875 to 1876. 



11. Check List of North American Sphinges, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1875. 



12. New Check List of North American Sphingidae, by A. R. Grote, Buffalo, 1877. 



13 A Synonymical Catalogue of the described Tortricidas ot North America, North of 



Mexico, by C. H. Fernald, A. M., Phila., 1882. 



P S The present List was commenced to be printed in May, but owing to delays, arising 

 in part from the nature of the work and the number of proofs, it was not finished by t 

 printer until August, 1882. 



In the present list the following generic names are used for the first time: Exednum, Pn- 

 onoxystul (Xvstus, n. b. 1.), Andrewsia, Herrichia, Pyla and Parxdis (for ^dis a name too 

 near^/a . 'The name " Packardaria " isu^tor Racheosptla Rubnfrontana of Dr. Packard, 



near^/a . The name " Packardara suor aceosta unr . 



the specific n*me being used in a very closely allied genus and thus liable to cause confusion 

 The variety Callida is proposed to designate the reddish form ofPseuda W>G* 

 Ebriosa and Obusta seem much redder and different; it is not certain that they are t lophilae. 



