156 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Schoenherr's collection in the Stockholm Museum. Indeed the identity 

 of Burmeister's M. gulo with this of Dalman is rather doubtful, as the 

 following characters of Dalman's description are wanting in Burmeister's 

 specimen : 



1. Niger — 2X\% fuscescentibus — nigro strigosis. 



2. CoUare — nigropilosum. 



3. Thorax supra — iinviaculatns. 



4. Pedes — iinmaadati. 



5. Alar, confertim reticulatce; stigmata fusco ; punctum fuscum me- 

 dium ante apicem. 



As Burmeister's /]/. gulo is apparently ^^rt!//Ma^//>/V distinda Rbr., we 

 may retain this name. 



1 1 . Myrmeleon nigrum Linn. 



Among Linn^us's papers were found the descriptions of some species 

 which were published by Afzelius in Linna2us's autograph annotations, p. 

 138, No. 14. The same was re-published, 1832, by Fee, in the Life of 

 Linn , Mem. Soc. Sc. Lille, p. 365 : 



Myrmeleon. nigrum. — Alis medio fascia posticeque maculis albis. 

 Hab., Africa, Fothergill. Corpus Myrm. formicarii sed alae latiores, et 

 totum nigrum. Antennae setacese. Alae nigrre concolores ; fascia alba 

 lineari interrupta in medio, sed postice maculis albis plurimis majoribus 

 magis sparsis. 



I am not aware that the species is mentioned by later entomologists. 

 I do not know where it belongs. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE BOMBYCID^. 



BY A. R. GROTE, A. M., BREMEN, GERMANY. 



Notwithstanding much that has been learnedly written upon the 

 family BombyciD/E, or Spinner Moths, no strong exclusive structural 

 characters have been brought to light which hold the groups together as 

 a natural family. Following Linne' and Latreille, the American authors. 

 Dr. Harris and Dr. Packard, have, however, considered such a family to 

 exist. In Germany the different groups, or sub-families, have been raised 

 to the rank of families, while under the loose term Eombyces the 

 Spinner Moths as a whole have been designated. In this paper the 



