232 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ACRONYCTA AND TYPES. 



BY JOHN B. SMITH, SC. D., RUTGERS COLLEGE, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 



In his note on p. 191, Dr. Dyar raises an interesting question, 

 concerning which L would like a general expression of opinion for my 

 own guidance. 



Among the material received for study by M. Guene'e from the 

 British Museum, perhaps also from other sources, was a considerable 

 number of specimens and drawings collected, bred or drawn by John 

 Abbott, of Georgia. 



Not all of the Abbott drawings went to the British Museum, for I saw 

 some in Paris ten years ago, and not all the Abbott drawings have been 

 identified, for I saw in the British Museum many pictures representing 

 insects that have not been taken since, so far as I know, while I identified 

 a few recently described, among these century-old drawings. 



It was Abbott's practice to draw and paint the species bred by him, 

 so as to show the stages and the food-plant on one card; but he also made 

 separate drawings of a great many specimens concerning whose early 

 stages he knew nothing. 



The originals of his drawings are not always represented by existing 

 specimens. I do not know whether there ever was a definite association 

 between an individual received in Europe and any one drawing. 



At all events, Guenee received specimens and drawings, and he made 

 very free use of the drawings, especially in his descriptions of early stages. 

 He always cites such cases as "decrit sur un dessin par Abbott." He 

 does not always say that the adult described by him also came from 

 Abbott or what evidence he had that larva and adult were correctly 

 associated. 



In some cases he had no adults at all, and his descriptions are 

 avowedly from the pictures only. Some of these pictures I have failed to 

 find, but they may be still in existence. 



Question 1. — What standing has a specific name avowedly based on 

 a drawing made by another, the original of which the describer has never 

 seen and which may or may not be then in existence? 



My own strong impression was, that as such descriptions never had 

 a type — that is, were not made from an actual specimen — they should be 

 ignored. Yet, my practice has not been in accordance with this, and 

 there is now at least one species of North American Noctuids listed 

 which is utterly unknown in nature to any living entomologist. The 



