iSO THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



somewhere. And why not ? It is surely an improvement on so much 

 of the dog-latin, or what may just as well be termed cat-greek (not to 

 mention the false concords !), with which scientific lists are crowded. It 

 is hard enough at times for one who, like myself, has no pretensions as a 

 classical scholar, to make so much as a vague guess at the translation of 

 names that are grammatically correct, without trying to discover their 

 application too. To hear the pronunciations often given to names must 

 have made many a schoolmaster squirm. And why do not describers more 

 often state their reason for a name when that is not self-evident ? 



I was the other day arranging in series, previous to examination, a 

 species I had received by mail. There were 5 or 6 specimens, and they 

 had but one antenna each, some the right and some the left. As I looked 

 at them I wondered whether such an accident had ever given birth to the 

 name alternata. Can it have been the condition of the type specimen to 

 which the name Leucania imperfecta was intended to refer? Or did 

 successfully-replaced wings, antennae, etc., give rise to the application of 

 refeda to an Oncocnemi$ ? Alas ! there must be many a type to which 

 trita would be much better suited than the name it bears, and Sir George 

 Hampson, who has the care of the types at present, can perhaps tell us 

 whether Morrison's Agrotis intrita does not require redescription, say, as 

 it has travelled far, zs/racta. I cannot find that a description oi dirupta 

 has ever been published. The mail clerks send me lots. It seems to 

 have a very wide range, and is referable to a large number of genera. 

 One might be excused for wondering whether when Walker described 

 Dryobota illocata he was doubtful as to its affinities. Such apparently 

 was really the case with Prof Smith sixteen years after Grote had 

 redescribed the species. But reference to Prof. Smith's Catalogue shows 

 that lack of a locality label on the specimen evidently suggested Walker's 

 name. Would that all collectors would endeavour to obviate this 

 application of the name again. " Retained " is often the final comment 

 made — and, I must admit, generally in full justice — by specialists to 

 collectors on new forms sent for naming. Yet, strange to say, retertta is 

 not yet in use in the N, American Lepidoptera. There is, however, a 

 Xylopharia remissa, which in this sense may or may not have been 

 misapplied. These suggestions might doubtless be carried very much 

 further, — F, H. VVolley Dod, Millarville, Alberta. 



Mailed June .^rtl, ny>^. 



