158 ' THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



" types " of Acronycta cristifera. Xylina signosa, Hormisa absorptalis, 

 are not the specimens seen in their original position by myself, Prof. 

 Fernald, and Grote & Robinson. Probably other cases exist. The basis 

 of a specific name is found in literature, not in a collection or a supposed 

 " type." A label may be changed or lost, a specimen may be substituted; 

 the description is clearly the only warrant for the name that cannot be 

 altered. The manner in which Mr. Smith speaks of Walker's and 

 Guenee's "types," as if he knew anything certain about the specimens 

 shown him as such, his neglect in each and every case to compare the 

 British Museum "type" with the Lists, stamps his method, pursued in 

 the "Catalogue," as uncritical, if not "unscientific." Mr. Smith has 

 made a number of remarks based on the fact that, in Mr. Neumoegen's 

 collection, I am supposed to have labelled some specimens (from 

 memory) of difficult Agrotids wrongly. If the fact is really so, these 

 determinations were never intended to be published, but the magnitude 

 of my fault, amplified by Mr. Smith, really pales before the fact that, in 

 the " Revision," Mr. Smith unites my cupidissitna, orbis and Icetula^ and 

 invents another Eudryas Stce. Johannis theory (p. 25), that I had " con- 

 founded two distinct species, one with open orbicula and one with 

 closed " ; while in the Catalogue, after seeing my types, he separates as 

 distinct the three species (p. 56), and abandons the positively stated 

 theory of the " Revision " without a word of apology. 



But though the mystery of Stce. Johaiinis is now cleared up, as to ^ 

 the home of the species, and its undoubted validity, the "type" in the 

 British Museum is still without a certain locality. If Stce. Joliaiinis is 

 found in Mexico, may it not be found on the banks of the St. John's 

 River, in Florida, also? Is it not now somewhat probable that the "type" 

 was really collected there by Doubleday ? At any rate, Florida collectors 

 will do well to look for the species, which belongs apparently to the 

 Tropical fauna of America north of the Equator. We have, then, three 

 allied species of the genus forming a group by themselves: grata^ Fab.; 

 Stce. Johannis, Walk., and cypris, Grt. As to the name for the genus, I 

 have given the argument. No one living, probably, regrets more than I do 

 that, in the strict letter of the law, we must abandon the beautiful Wood 

 Nymph lor Euthisafiotia, and use for timais, according to Berg's 

 restriction, the name Xanthopastis. Thus the type of Euthisanotia 

 would be iinio, and with this, brevipennis, Stretch, from California, seems 

 strictly congeneric. I wish Mr. Dyar would examine Stce. Johannis and 

 grata, to see if this group offers any structural distinctive characters, 



