THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 65 



Erigonoplus gigas, n. sp. 



Length, 2.2 mm. Cephalothorax yellowish, black around the eyes 

 and on the clypeus ; legs and palpi pale, patellae of legs a little darker ; 

 abdomen blackish, with narrow pale chevrons above, spinnerets pale ; 

 sternum yellow-brown. Head broad and swollen in front; posterior 

 row of eyes slightly procurved ; P. M. E. nearly twice their diameter apart, 

 about as far from S. E.; A. M. E. far in front of P. M. E., small and 

 close together. Behind the eyes there is a small, low, yellow body, 

 trilobed in front and with a smaller lobe on each side. The legs are long 

 and hairy, without spines above; metatarsi i. much enlarged in the 

 middle, fusiform. The sternum is short, pointed between the hind coxas, 

 fully as broad at coxae ii. as in front. The tibia of the $ palpus has on 

 the outer tip a short, stout projection ; a large hook across basal part of 

 bulb with a projection outward from it ; the tube starts from near the 

 middle, curves along the bulb to the tip, then extends outward and 

 curving, so as to nearly form a square. 



One male from a deep and cold swamp near Ithaca, N. Y. (May). 



A REPLY CONCERNING NOCTUA AND AGROTIS. 



BY A. RADCLIFFE GROTE, A. M., HILDESHEIM, GERMANY. 



Prof. John B. Smith on page S of this volume criticizes my rejection 

 of the terms Noctua and Noctuidce and says : " I state my own knowl- 

 edge as follows : In Scudder's ' Nomenclator' we find 



te "Noctua, Klein, Moll., 1753. 



K Noctua, Fabr., Lep., 1776. 



 ^ Noctua, Sav., Aves., 1809. 



Noctuae, Linn., Lep., 1758." 

 I may say, that were this "knowledge" the utmost wc could attain to, 

 my statement that " Noctua is preoccupied m the Birds " would be 

 justified. The term " Noctuse, Linn.," 1758, is, according to Prof. Smith, 

 to be rejected and the generic term is to be credited to Fabricius, 

 although Guene'e and others write " Noctua, Linn.," so that the date 1758 

 would be ruled out. The citation " Noctua, Fabr.," 1776, if looked up, 

 would show that it represents a bare name, and therefore [see Comstock's 

 observations] this would also fall. We would then come to Savigny, 1809, 

 and this would be the proper use under the rules, according to the 

 " Nomenclator " as cited by Smith, of the name " Noctua." But while 

 Prof. Smith's knowledge, as above stated, justifies me, it is not fifnl. 



