124 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Dr. Skinner's Catalogue of North American Butterflies. 



It is now nearly fifteen years since Mr. W. H Edwards issued his 

 "Revised Catalogue of the Diurnal Lepidoptera of America north of 

 Mexico," and it cannot therefore be said that the new "Synonymic Cata- 

 logue of the North American Rhopalocera," issued on 15th December 

 last by Dr. Henry Skinner, appeared prematurely. In this catalogue, 

 Dr. Skinner has followed very closely on the lines laid down by Mr. 

 Edwards in his lists, so far as the species are concerned, and with a 

 conservatism which is striking when compared with his rather sweeping 

 radicalism as expressed in his article, " Impressions Received from a 

 Study of our North American Rhopalocera," in Jour. N. Y. Ent. Soc, IV., 

 107. A few, probably too few, species have been placed in the synonymy, 

 but it seems strange, in view of what the author has written elsewhere, to 

 see Argynnis Artonis, Clio, Opis, Bischoffii, Arge and Eurynome, all 

 standing as distinct species. The order of the famih'es and subfamilies 

 has, however, been entirely changed, following that adopted by the same 

 author in the Check List of 1891, beginning with the Danains, and the 

 other Nymphalid subfamilies following in order the Satyrinje and Liby- 

 theinpe closing the series, the Erycinids", Lyc?enidae, Papilionid^e and 

 HesperidaJ following in the order given. 



This grouping of the families, if not altogether satisfactory, and it is 

 not so to the reviewer, seems certainly much more reasonable than that 

 which places at the head as the highest type of butterfly the Satyrina^, 

 some of the species of which pupate in rudimentary cocoons. 



One very excellent feature of the work is the giving a separate line 

 to each reference, which greatly aids the eye in finding what is wanted, 

 but more care might have been exercised in giving the references, as 

 quite a number of errors in the volumes or pages occur. One such error, 

 which may be cited as a sample, occurs on page 52 under Chrysophanus 

 Dorcas, where Scud. But. 3, 1380, should be 1830. 



Other misprints occur, at least it seems probable that spelling Phae- 

 ton Phaeton is chargeable to the printer rather than to the author. 



In a few cases references are given which are of less interest than 

 some which have apparently been overlooked, but the citations are so 

 very full that really very little of interest seems to have been omitted. 



It will be noticed that under Colias Palreno is placed Var.Werdandi, 



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