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group, Grote has published a work in Germany which refers to 

 American species, and Packard has published on the larvae, giv 

 ing details of their peculiar structure and armature. He is still 

 at work on the Saturnians, as a continuation of his monumental 

 work on the " Bombycine Moths," of which the Notodontidae 

 formed the first part, so that the next few years will probably see 

 a great advance in this group. The title of Dr. Packard's work 

 reminds us that we wish it were founded on a better system of 

 classification. Packard's own system is open to criticism, viewed 

 either from a venational, pupal, larval, or oval standpoint, and 

 we regret to have such an excellent and comprehensive work 

 proceed on a somewhat uncritical foundation. 



Sir George Hampson, of England, in his studies on moths, and 

 especially in the " Lepidoptera Phalasnse," the series of mono- 

 graphs of the world fauna being published by the British Museum, 

 incidentally treats of American species. We think his work the 

 best of its kind that we have studied. It suffers a little from haste, 

 more especially in his earlier papers, and from the use of charac 

 ters which are subject to variation, especially the smaller differ 

 ences in venation. In using his book to determine Syntomidae 

 we have been occasionally misled, even so far as to make syn 

 onyms, owing to these defects. 



The last ten years of American entomology have been nearly 

 uninfluenced by the personality of Mr. A. R. Grote. Since he 

 took up his residence abroad he has been unable to contribute 

 much to our subject. Formerly the leading student of North 

 American Noctuidae he has lately turned his attention to more 

 general studies. How much we have lost in the expatriation of 

 this able man, with his clear and concise statements and his almost 

 intuitive perception of specific characters, it is hard to say. His 

 place has been taken by Dr. John B. Smith, a patient, careful 

 man, who has given lengthy descriptions of numerous new species, 

 usually accompanied by synoptic tables and a revision of the 

 group to which they belong. We are fortunate to have this work 

 done in so capable a manner. Yet two tendencies in the work 

 may be criticised. The descriptions are often vague from the very 

 effort at completeness, and this vagueness is increased by the too 

 discursive character of the introductory remarks accompanying 

 the revisions of groups. The synoptic tables seem somewhat 



