180 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



It is thus with Mr. Distant, not the making of mistakes, as regards 

 the placing in wrong genera, undue lumping or undue splitting of genera 

 and species, or a failure to express in our descriptions the points we see, 

 or think we see (lamentable as these failures arc), but a total ignorance of 

 the fundamental principles governing taxonomy, and a perpetual confusion 

 between Homology and Superficial Resemblance. 



In the Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. (XXXII, 1906), I published a list of 

 certain Heteropterous genera, with their types, etc. I prefaced this con- 

 tribution with the following remarks (p. 117): " The object of this list is 

 to enumerate the Heteroptera pagiopoda with their synonyms and type 

 species. ... It should be considered ;is a bibliographical contribu- 

 tion." In 1907 (Entom., XI,, 2), Mr. Distant wrote: '"It seems, therefore, 

 a little surprising 1h.1t Mr. Kirkaldy should have recently . . proposed 

 his own classification of the family.'' In the same publication and year 

 (p. 58) I replied that " I did not, as Mr. Distant affirms, propose a new 

 classification, but distinctly stated . . . that the object of my list was 

 simply to enumerate the genera, genotypes, etc., and that it should be 

 considered as a bibliographical contribution." In the face of these state- 

 ments, Mr. Distant's repeated allusion to my "connection with a proposed 

 revision of the Capsidte " is not in harmony with the facts. 



Finally, I deny absolutely the slightest interest in persons, but I 

 uphold my right to call attention to any errors or misapprehensions I 

 detect, or think I detect, in the wiitings of any Hemiptcrist, in the same 

 way that I welcome criticisms on my own work, provided that they deal 

 with facts, and are not merely invalid reassertions, in another place, after 

 their inaccuracy has been pointed out. 1 ' 



6. Mr. Distant (p. 95) refers to my " misstatements of his work made in the 

 "Entomologist," and "Ann. lint. See. Belg.," but emits to refer to the faci that I 

 have replied in these journals, showing thai my remarks were justified, and were 

 not misstatements. Those who are interested will find both sides sel forth in 

 the following papers : 



Distant: "Entomologist," 1906, pp. 274 5 : 1907, pp. 2 3; rgo8, pp. 15 6; 

 36 7 ; 1. 17 S. 

 " Ann. See. lint. Belg.," 1007, pp. 220 2. 

 KlRKALDY: " Entomologist," [906, pp. 283 7 ; kk^, pp. 58 60 ; (n ; 2S2 --3 ; 1908, 

 pp. [2 5 ; 1 23 4. 

 "Ann. Soe. Ent. Belg.,'' 1007, pp. 123 7; -500 2; 303 <). 

 In one of these papers Mr. Distant resented my impeachment oi his inaccu- 

 racy in dates, etc. (1907, Entom., 2). I replied (op. eit., 58), giving several 

 examples. In one of his most recent works (1907 Faun. Ind. Rh., IV. 201 1 Mr. 

 Distant eites "Tetigonia, GeofFr. (Hist, ah/eg. des Ins., I, p. 421), 1798 99)." 



