OF WASHINGTON. Ill 



on three Japanese species and had not hitherto been recorded 

 from this continent. The males of this genus are remarkable 

 through having only u veins in the fore wings instead of the 

 usual 12 as found also in the females, the stalked veins 7 and 8 

 having become coincident in the males. One American genus, 

 Amorbia Clemens, and two Australian genera defined by Mr. 

 E. Meyrick all three containing but few species were the 

 only other tortricids known to him that exhibited a similar 

 reduction in the number of veins in the fore wing. 



Mr. Busck said that his studies in this family had led him to 

 believe that this and other secondary sexual characters, notably 

 the costal fold, could not be relied on as of generic value and 

 that genera which were based on such characters alone would 

 prove to be artificial. The present genus as well as Amorbia, 

 however, seemed to be well defined on other peculiarities in the 

 venation, common to both sexes, but other genera, such as 

 Eucosma, Lipoptycha, and several others, would have to be re 

 arranged in order to bring about a natural system. 



Mr. Busck stated that at present the costal fold on the fore 

 wings of the males was relied upon as one of the primary char 

 acters in separating the genera in this family. This, aside from 

 the resulting unnatural grouping, was a constant inconvenience, 

 as by it only the males could be classified. 



Doctor Dyar said he believed that the initiative taken by Mr. 

 Busck in the tortricids would have to be followed in other 

 groups of Lepidoptera by the rejection of genera based solely 

 or mainly on secondary sexual characters. Mr. Schwarz pointed 

 out that the more remotely a secondary sexual character is 

 situated from the true characters, the less value it has in classi 

 fication. 



Doctor Hopkins said that his study of the secondary sexual 

 characters in the Scolytidse and Pissodes indicated that without 

 a detailed knowledge of such characters as represented in allied 

 species and genera their interpretation and use as generic and 

 specific characters would lead to much confusion in the future, 

 as it had in the past. Certain characters, such as the more elon 

 gate and slender beak and the seven visible dorsal segments in 

 the female curculionid, might be important family and even 



