THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. Id.', 



to ac(|uirc an ahsoliuc cliariH'kT w illi ( liirnL-c. ]}ut his (k-scriptions arc 

 \cry good, and he tells \()U \cr\ little in a \er\- cnlcrtainini;- aiid Icngtlu' 

 way. I.cdcrcr is wvy exact and tlioroU|^lil\- yrasps the sulijcct of slnic- 

 ture, — perhaps a hltlc loo strict in his dclinitions. but of a far more 

 genuine temper \vhi(di is e\ery\\hcrc scientific. This ])rief resume of the 

 (luaHties of the two writers who have attained celebrity in Kurope, and 

 who are now no longer with us in the flesh, suggested to me the idea that 

 we should be more conservative and less violent in the e-\i:)ression of our 

 opinions. Each new writer seems to offer himself as the measure of that 

 part of creation which he dabbles in. and la\s down the law with an abso- 

 lute assertion whic;h 1 know from my own exper-ience will be moditied as 

 he comes to know more, if he is ever, indeed, to know much. 1 do not 

 intend either to speak unkindly, or to arrogate to myself the right to speak 

 at all. 1 almost feel that I am laid under an obligation in being permitted 

 to express my opinions, although I have been writing these twenty-two, 

 and studying for now more than the twenty-five years which have passed 

 away. 1 hope after I am silent that it will be remembered that I fought 

 against my naturally positive o])inions as much as I could. In my first 

 paper 1 know I expressed myself with diffidence and the likelihood I 

 should make mistakes. It was pretty dark in those days. The Synopsis 

 of Dr. Morris was not published, and I could not get a name for a moth 

 in the length and breadth of the land, except for the few species discussed 

 by Dr. Harris in his Insects Injurious to Vegetation. Those half a dozen 

 Noctuids have now groAvn to nearly 1,700 names, about four fifths of 

 which most of us know all about, or fancy we do. It must be admitted 

 that much of my work was necessarily very difiicult, and early mistakes 

 more readily excusable than they are to-day. 



Lygranthoecia (t. & R. 



Type : Crambus Marginatus Haw. 



Eyes naked, unlashed, full. Front moderately bulging, shortly scaled. 

 Infra-clypeal plate not exposed. Fore tibiae heavily armed ; middle and 

 hind til>iie spinose. ^^estiture of mingled scales and hair. The armature 

 of the shortened fore tibiae consists in two long, sub-equal claws, which 

 slightly oserlap on the inside, and a series of four, dinnnisliing in si/.e 

 on the outside of the joint. Mr. Smith's figure (3) d(jes not agree with 

 my specimens, in whi(-h the outer series is equidistant and the final claw 

 proportionately shorter ; they arc distributed further along the joint, which 



