THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 127 



and the outer portion of the nervures of the primaries about the apical 

 portion being blackish, which makes it look as if slightly scorched at the 

 tips as described by the Doctor. Dr. Ottolengui expresses his conviction 

 that congrua is distinct from cunea, but this was surely unnecessary, 

 and shows that he misunderstood Dr. Fyles's meaning, as no one has 

 suggested that the ground-feeding S. antigone is identical with the tree- 

 feeding H. punctatissima. 



In the same number Dr. Fyles had a second paper upon the same 

 tangled question. 



Dr. Fyles derives the name cunea from the Greek kwoj (a dog's skin), 

 from a supposed fancied resemblance in coloration to the spotted 

 carriage-dog of Europe, but I think Mr. Westwood's derivation from the 

 Latin cuneus (a wedge) quite as probable, Drury having especially 

 referred to the triangular marks. Dr. Fyles draws attention to the fact 

 that the hind tibiae are not shown in Drury's figure, and that Walker did 

 not describe the hind tibife of what he supposed to be cunea or of what 

 he described as congrua, but these points are of very minor importance, 

 especially as in Drury's day entomological artists were not so particular 

 about a spine or so, more or less, on the legs of insects. 



Dr. Fyles says, in regard to cunea, that "we have nothing to guide 

 us except Drury's figure, and Walker's description." 



This is a very extraordinary statement, as we have Drury's descrip- 

 tion as well as figure ; but how Walker's description of a few specimens 

 of moths which he supposed to be identical with Drury's cunea could 

 have any weight in deciding what Drury's moth really was, I fail to see. 



Dr. Fyles, however, does not lay much stress on Walker's description 

 of supposed cunea, but falls back on Drury's figure and finds it sufficient. 

 I am not at all surprised at that, as I think that practically everybody 

 else finds it suflicient also, as I believe that until Dr. Fyles became guilty 

 of his present heresy, the belief that Drury's figure of cunea represented 

 the much-spotted ermine moth of the South was one of those doctrines to 

 which the formula " semper, ubique et ab omnibus " could be applied. 



Dr. Fyles lays great stress on the fact that not one of the eight 

 figures given by Riley to illustrate the supposed variation of cunea agrees 

 exactly with Drury's figure, but this is really of no significance, as Riley 

 was not trying to match that figure at all, but merely to show the range 

 of variation, and in the case of so variable a species it might be possible 

 to give a hundred figures and yet not have two exactly alike. 



