THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



187 



and size, and often armed with hooks and crotchets. At the ventral base 

 of tiiis end-portion is usually found a chitinous sack, commonly and 

 erroneously taken to be the blind end of the Pe7iis itself, giving rise to the 

 idea that the Ductus ejactulatorius entered the Penis from the dorsal side. 

 As a matter of fact the Penis extends far beyond this point into the 

 abdomen, the use of the sack being to contain the retractory muscle of the 

 eversible Ductus ejaculatorius, which passes through the Penis for its 

 entire length as a finely chitinized tube and may occasionally be observed 

 projecting from the distal end in the form of a delicate membrane. 



rD ^y 



FfG. 10. — Section throug^h Penis and Penis pouch (according- to Zander), 

 Pi, P2, P;^, Penis ; D. ej.. Ductus ejaculatorius ; Rw. d., Dorsal portion of 

 Ring-wall: Rw. v., ^'entral portion of Ringwall; BI., Blind pouch with 

 muse, retract. 



In this preface to "Genitalia of British Noctuidae," issued in 1909, 

 Pierce has devoted a short chapter to "Nomenclature and Descriptions." 

 While we do not wish to depreciate the excellent work done by the 

 author, we regret to find that his definitions are, in the light of what we 

 have just stated, far from correct. As already noted, the term Harpe is 

 applied by Pierce to the two outermost lateral appendages. Taking into 

 consideration the ontogenetic development of these parts, as shown by 

 Zander, and referring to the original definition of the term as given by 

 Gosse, we inevitably come to the conclusion that Pierce's use of it is 

 incorrect. He has either followed Smith's lead or has possibly confused 

 it with the harpago of Buchanan-White, which, in its turn, must fall before 

 the older terms valve or clasp. The ha?'pago is not, as Gosse has stated, 

 a fusion oi valve and harpe, but rather a simple valve which is destitute 

 of any inner armature in the shape of a harpe. The term clasper, as used 

 by Pierce and by J- B. Smith, also cannot stand ; Scudder has 

 already employed the term for another portion, viz., the valve- The 

 hook-like process arising from the central portion of the inner side of the 



