44 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



nervure a little before the middle ; abdomen long, clavate, the petiole 

 very long; legs long, the tibial spurs i, 2, 2, very long and straight; 

 tarsi long, the middle and hind tarsi with joints 2-4 broad and dilated, 

 densely pubescent beneath, subemarginate and armed with some stiff 



spurs at apex ; claws long, curved Rhopalosoma, Cresson. 



(Type R. Poeyi, Cr.) 



TUTT'S "BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA " — A REPLY TO DR. 



DYAR. 



It is in no spirit of carping criticism that I write in reply to Dr. 

 Dyar's remarks on the 3rd volume of Mr. Tutt's British Lepidoptera. 

 Far otherwise, for I have always considered myself as one of his disciples, 

 as it was his and Dr. Chapman's stimulating work on Lepidopterous 

 larvfe that first aroused my interest in this branch of entomology, and my 

 chief object in the following remarks is a desire to arrive at a clearer 

 understanding, in view of future work. Unfortunately, owing to the 

 extremely limited time at my disposal, I am not nearly so well versed in 

 the literature of my subject as I should be, it being a question of choosing 

 between first-hand work, at the risk of repeating through ignorance 

 of what another has already done, or acquiring a fuller knowledge of what 

 other workers are doing. I have chosen the former, and this must be my 

 excuse if I have missed some important work of Dr. Dyar's that has 

 already settled some of the points I raise. 



With regard to tubercle v of the Sphinges, I gladly acknowledge that 

 the error which led Mr. Tutt astray was chiefly mine, as Mr. Tutt was in 

 this instance largely relying on my notes. I am the more ready to take 

 this action in that by so doing I find myself in company with Dr. Dyar 

 himself, my mistake being, perhaps, somewhat analogous to the mistake so 

 readily acknowledged by him with reference to his statement of the 

 absence of tubercle iv. in the Saturniids (" Additional Notes on the 

 Classification of Lepidopterous LarvK," Transactions of the Neiv York 

 Academy of Sciences, 1894, Vol. XIV., p. 51). Tubercle v. on the 

 abdominal segments of Sphingid larvae is, normally, not only moved up to 

 the level of the spiracle, but is, in addition, shifted forward until it is 

 situated almost on the verge of the anterior edge of the segment, and it 

 was owing to this unusual position and the fact of there being an accessory 

 tubercle in this position in Lachneid larv{« which led me astray. Almost 

 before the volume had left the binder's hands, an examination of some 



