57 



of the tropical origin of the Cotton worm, was readied 

 by me through independent studies. The latter was in con- 

 tradiction to that point of view from which the Cotton worm 

 was treated in the "Missouri Reports" by Prof. C. V. Eiley. 

 A subsequent attempt to deprive me of originality on the 

 discovery of the "Boston letter", not only fails when the 

 letter itself is compared with my observations, but is without 

 force as coming from Prof. Riley, who was equally unaware 

 of the existence of the letter with myself at the time of 

 reading my paper. 



I have also shown the existence of generic groups of 

 forms more closely related than is usually the case, such as 

 Datana, Nadata, the European Plialera and in our Butterflies 

 the genus Basilarchia. It seems to me that the species in 

 these genera present a certain advanced stage of distinctiveness 

 when their interdependence has but recently ceased, they are 

 yet in process of separation, of hardening into perfectly distinct 

 appearing species. I have called such generic groups, Pro- 

 genera. Sections of other genera, as considered by Authors, 

 show this peculiarity, as the typical section of Hemileuca. 

 I refer tricolor to Henrileuca, and in this view its color variation 

 becomes of more interest than when regarded as a distinct 

 generic type. From this subfamily, as established by Packard, 

 I have separated the Hemileuc'mae and Ceratocampinae, the 

 latter the communiformes of Hiibner, characterized by the 

 shorter antennae and heavy bodies, in this approaching the 

 Cossidae, from this latter I separated, as a distinct sub- 

 family, the Hepialinae. My Catalogue in the Philosophical 

 Society gives my ideas on the arrangment of these groups, 

 but slightly altered from Packard. On these points the 

 student should consult our colored Plates of Datcma in the 

 sixth Volume of the Preceedings of the Entomological Society 

 of Philadelphia and the descriptions. On the Ceratocampinae 

 consult Grote a. Robinson's paper in N. Y. Lyceum. Also 

 my list, Am. Phil. Society, Nov. 20 th -, 1874, and my papers 

 in the Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey. A 

 period of Renascence in American Entomology has now 

 passed away. It is one hundred years from Linnaeus 



8 



