THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 209 



hind wings. This leads to a natural division of the specific groups, and is 

 a good starting point. The Geometrinas he divides into eight subfamilies. 

 One of these, Leuculinae, Dr. Hulst doubtfully classes as geometrid, and 

 subsequently it proved lo belong to the Liparidfe. The Brephinse are in 

 Dr. Dyar's " List "' now placed as a subfamily at the end of the series of 

 Ennominae. This cannot stand, since vein 5 is developed in all speci- 

 mens of Brephos I have examined, and it must go, therefore, among the 

 Geometrinae, or be raised to family rank, as has been done in the case of 

 another subfamily, the Strophidiinse, now Epiplemidse. I understand from 

 Dr. Dyar that the manuscript for his list was prepared by Dr. Hulst, and 

 unless the reasons for these changes are there given, I am not aware that 

 tliey are to be found. 



The subfamily Dyspteridinte is founded upon the absence of the 

 frenulum in certain species. This division is not warranted by the studies 

 which I have made of Dr. Hulst's collection, now lodged in Rutger's 

 College, New Brunswick, N. J., to which, through the courtesy of Prof. 

 John B. Smith, I was granted free access, and of the collection which he 

 gave to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, as well as my own 

 material. Examination of the types of each genus show the following 

 results as to the presence or absence of the frenulum in both sexes : 



Male. ^ Female. 



Dyspteris absent. absent. 



Cysteopteryx not a valid genus. 



Nyclobia present. a tuft of stiff hairs. 



Cladara absent. absent. 



Opheroptera . . ..... present. wings aborted. 



Paraptera present. " " 



Rachela present. " " 



Such a showing should, in my opinion, eliminate this subfamily, 

 whose affiliations are with the Hydriomeninse, and necessitate a reorgani- 

 zation of the latter subfamily, which constructive work I intend to take up 

 later on, after making a comparison of every generic type, with its descrip- 

 tion. That these descriptions contain many errors, I have alread)' 

 discovered. How far they may affect the general scheme of arrangement, 



as followed by Dr. Hulst, it is impossible to say as yet, but his arrangement 

 of the species commends itself to me, after some study of the related 

 forms, and it may not be necessary to greatly alter it. I sincerely hope 

 this may be so, because I appreciate the labour bestowed upon this group 

 by Dr. Hulst, when it was in a chaotic condition. 



