182 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



to the various parts of the ^ genitalia as determined strictly by the law of 

 priority ; we can promise nothing startlingly new, but consider the lack of 

 a uniform terminology sufficient warrant for thus obtruding ourselves upon 

 the pubHc notice. 



The older writers, such as Burmeister, Kirby and Spence, and 

 Siebold and Stannius, dismiss the subject of the c? genitalia of Lepidoptera 

 in a few words. All the above authors use the term valvce or valves for 

 the two lateral outer appendages. Just who originated the term we have not 

 been able to discover, but it dates back before i8i^. Mention of further 

 portions of the genital armature is first made by De Haan in 1842. This 

 author has examined the genitalia of several exotic Papilios ; he uses the 

 term valves (kleppen) in the sense of the older writers, and makes further 

 mention of two inner lateral appendages (zijdelingsche aanhangsels), and 

 a blunt-pointed spine with two lateral plates at the extremity of the 

 abdomen ; he, however, applies no particular terms to these parts. 



The first work of importance after this date dealing with ^ genitalia 

 is that of Scudder and Burgess in 1870. Here we meet with the term 

 clasp employed instead of valve; a reference to the figures leaves no doubt 

 that the two terms are identical. A " short, frequently bent or curving 

 process, ordinarily somewhat triangular in shape, and very often armed 

 with spinules," which arises from the basal portion of the lower half of the 

 clasps (in the genus under discussion, Nisoniades, each clasp is divided 

 into an upper and lower portion), is termed ^^ basal process^ The dorsal 

 portion of the armature is simply referred to as the " tipper orga?il^ 



In 1876 Buchanan-White issued a profusely illustrated monograph on 

 the ^ genital armature in the European Rhopaiocera. Owing to the 

 poor technical methods employed, the hair being simply removed from 

 the anal segments, and the portions thus exposed delineated, little reliance 

 can be placed on the figures. The author employs the term " Harpago^' 

 for the lateral valve, and designates the dorsal portion — the upper organ 

 of Scudder and Burgess — by the name of Tegumeii. 



This work was followed in 1882 by a monograph of the clasping 

 organs of the genus Papilio by Ph. H. Gosse. Besides a review of the 

 existing literature, the author gives for the first time fairly exact definitions 

 of the various portions of the genitalia. The term Valves is again 

 employed for " two broad plates, which by free-working joints are united 

 to the overlapping edges of the eighth abdominal segment. They are 

 clothed on the exterior with scales like those of the body. Their direction 



