96 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



him most sincerely for the able manner in which he has, in the furtherance 

 of this object, abolished useless or ill-founded genera, extended families, and 

 brought allied species more into contact with each other. How far he is 

 correct in some of the cases in which he has sunk species into varieties, time 

 and the practical experience of naturalists can alone show. Some of them have 

 been already objected to. They will form good problems for our practical 

 men to solve. It is by breeding the insect that the specific distinction is best 

 established. We must not trust our "opinions" or our "convictions" upon 

 this subject. We must first submit both to the rigid test of practical exami- 

 nation. We have, for instance, a doubt arising merely from our "opinion," 

 whether C. unidentaria is a variety of Ferrugata. Guenee has made it a 

 variety upon the slight testimony of a figure of Sepp, in which both insects 

 are represented as raised from the same larva. Unidentaria was established 

 as a species by Haworth, and has been sanctioned as such by all successive 

 writers. It is only found in England, and therefore M. Guenee may not 

 have had the opportunity of studying the species. 



A still stronger case of doubt is, we think, that of making C. autumnaria 

 a variety of G. filigrammaria, and this is another problem we leave our 

 practical men to work out. 



In the numerous changes of specific names, we feel inclined, in the strict 

 performance of our duty, rather to find fault with M. Guene"e. These 

 changes create great confusion, without, we think, an equivalent scientific 

 advantage. It is eight years since Doubleday's Catalogue appeared in this 

 country, and almost all collections are named by it. This Catalogue, we 

 believe, was formed on M. Guenees own works, as far as the nomenclature 

 was concerned. There was, we apprehend, as good reason then for calling 

 H. marmoraria — dotata, and H. achatinaria — testata, as there is now. Even 

 now the names of Stephens and Curtis, superseded by that Catalogue, are 

 used by many. In eight years more we shall probably have another change, 

 just when we are getting accustomed to know a thing by the name it is called. 



We have not space, we are sorry to say, to enter further at present into 

 a critical examination of these volumes. That they will give great satisfaction 

 as a whole, we have no doubt, and that they will add to the already high 

 fame of the author, and remain to future ages as a splendid monument of 

 his zeal and industry, will, we are sure, be the willing testimony of all who 

 examine their pages. — Ed. 



SHisiBlliniOT Snte. 



A Canine Fox. — A very extraordinary animal has been captured in this 

 neighbourhood by the hounds in Alexton Wood, and is now alive, and in 

 the possession of a surgeon in this town. When discovered, it was sur- 

 rounded by the hounds, which made no attempt to seize it. It was lying 

 crouched in a ditch, and appeared very thin and exhausted, and whether 

 it had been pursued by the hounds, or had followed them, or had acci- 

 dentally been discovered in the spot where they came to a fault, (for they 



