THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 311 



at the beginning of his career among the little moths. And it is grateful 

 to me, hut quite out of the usual course, that Prof. Fernald should have 

 remenibered the circumstance. I thank him heartily. As I sat down to 

 write this notice and was seeking for the proper words, a letter was brought 

 in from a well-known and able German writer on the " Tineides," 

 thanking me for sending him a copy of " Prof. Fernald's full and satis- 

 factory work on the American Crambidge." It is certainly exactly this, 

 and I need not seek further for adjectives. The appearance of being 

 written quite easily, which Prof. Fernald's work bears, is deceptive. It 

 has been all thought out and written over. 



My own studies in the Crambids may give a little weight to a word 

 of general praise and entitle me to offer some comments. The synoptic 

 table and exact definitions will enable the student to identify his material 

 even without the aid of the finely drawn and delicately coloured plates 

 (the figure of edonis is perhaps too delicately coloured — I miss the 

 " salmon pink"). But here and there we might easily have had, in addi- 

 tion, more comparative details, to enable one to seize readily important 

 characters and bring the inter-relationships to light. The sequence of the 

 descriptions of the species of Crambiis is not that of the synoptic table, 

 and it is not clear upon what principle it is laid down. In the absence of 

 structural characters, we have the markings upon which to group the 

 species. First there are the while species (perkllus, girardellus, etc.), 

 reminding us of Argyria. Then the leather-brown species, with a white 

 median stripe cut into blocks, myelhts, inctuelhis, dissect us. Then what 

 may be considered the typical Crambids, species with gilded and fuscous 

 primaries, with longitudinal subcostal satiny-white striping, satrapelhis, 

 leachellus, carpenterelliis, laqucatellus, etc., etc.; again, with the stripes 

 wanting, vulgivagellus, behrensellus, etc. These seem to pass, through 

 forms like aitenuatus, into the plain, gray, or fulvous species, with double, 

 dark and bent transverse lines, such as laciniellus, caiiginose/his, liiteol- 

 ellus, anceps, nndatus, etc. Then we have the blackish and white species 

 like labraderietisis and oregonicus, while a number of peculiarly marked 

 forms lead us, through dimidiatellns, to the species of Thauinatopsis. 

 But this rough sketch of a possible arrangement is entirely suggestive. 

 I may conclude with a few words upon three species. On Plate III., 

 fig. 15, Prof. Fernald gives us a representation of Crambus inovjiatellus. 

 But no mention is made of this pale yellowish form on page 43, where it 

 is referred to merely in the synonymy oi perlellus. It is nearly twenty 



