THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 305 



lections was not that of Stephens, then one of the few great EngHsh col- 

 lections. Thus, I believe that the weight of evidence indicates that the 

 subgothica of Haworth and Stephens were the same species. 



But, curiously enough, while all American entomologists have 

 claimed the name snbgoi/iica, Haw., for our insect, the English authors 

 since Doubleday have claimed Haworth's insect as a variety of their 

 iritici. Doubleday said it was " simply a variety of either tritici or 

 ac/ui/ina,'" but it was soon restricted to the former in British lists, and it 

 is still considered as such by Mr. Tutt. The evidence in support of this 

 seems to be confined principally to the simple statement of Doubleday, 

 although Tutt intimates that he has seen Haworth's description ; but 

 Tutt does not (Can. Ent., XXHI., 159) know our American insect. I 

 think the evidence produced to show that Haworth's subgothica is our 

 American insect outweighs any opinion which English writers, who do 

 not know our insect, may form from the original description alone. 



The name jacidifera^ which occupies so conspicuous a part in the 

 synonymy of this insect, was proposed by Guene'e, in 1852, for an Amer- 

 ican insect. His description of the species includes a good characteriza- 

 tion of the type, followed by brief descriptions of two varieties, A and B. 

 I think both Mr. Grote and Prof. Smith agree that Guene'e's figure 

 (reproduced zX i d on the plate) and his description of the type of the 

 species correspond to what American writers have been calling subgothica, 

 Haw., for the past quarter of a century. Jaculifera, Gn., was first 

 placed in the synonymy oi subgothica, Haw., in 1873, by Mr. Grote, and 

 on the same page he described both of Guenee's varieties, A and B, as a 

 new species — herilis. In 1874, Dr. Lintner made a careful study of the 

 forms included under Guene'e's specific title Jaculifera, with the result 

 that Mr. Grote's herilis was restricted io jacuii/era, var. B, Gn., and var. 

 A was described as a new species — tricosa. 



No one has since questioned the specific rank of Guenee's varieties. 

 Therefore, according to Canon XXVIII. of the A. O. U. Code of Nomen- 

 clature, the name jaculifera must be restricted to the first or main part 

 of Guenee's description ; this is the only portion of the description that 

 can apply to his figure or to the insect under discussion. It is true, as 

 Prof. Smith says (Bull. 38, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 113) : "Under all circum- 

 stances Guenee's name mu-.t stand for one of the forms, since he had all 

 three before him," but in 1873 and 1874 the name was restricted to, or 

 " was retained for that portion of the group to which it was first applied" 



