86 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [March, 



at this point. There is no frenulum, but there are a small number 

 of short veins from the costal vein near the extreme base, and 

 these are supposed to be the origin of the structure. Vein 5 

 belongs to the median series in all the species examined by me. 

 The head structure does not appear to differ very markedly from 

 that of the preceding family, but the antennal pectinations are 

 perhaps not quite as prominent. The wing form varies some- 

 what in the genera, but there is quite a distinct tendency to a 

 dentate outer margin, to a tooth on the inner margin, or to an 

 enlargement of the costal margin of the secondaries. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., MARCH, 1893. 



IT will soon be time to get your net out of camphor and dust off your 

 cyanide bottle and take a look for Spring insects. There is much good 

 work to be done, especially by the field naturalist, in studying seasonal 

 variation, and we would urge the necessity of carefully labeling every 

 specimen with date of capture. In the diurnal lepidoptera most of our 

 species have probably been named, and perhaps some are named which 

 should not have been. There are two general laws which have to some 

 extent been overlooked, they are those of seasonal variation and geo- 

 graphical variation. These facts are well recognized in regard to some 

 few species, as for instance in Papilio ajax and its variations and in Ly- 

 c<zna psendargiolus. Why does it not apply to all ? It is well known 

 that the Canada examples of Papilio tnrnus are quite different in appear- 

 ance from the Florida ones, yet in this instance no one calls the latter 

 floridcnsis. If we were to erect names for every variation in a species 

 we would in some cases have an ensis for nearly every State in the Union. 

 When our butterflies are studied in series in relation to their geographical 

 distribution, and the different seasonal broods are mapped out, we think 



