250 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Montreal collectors in 1903, and I was convinced of its distinctness, but 

 refrained from describing it from a single flown specimen, even though in 

 good condition. In 1904 Mr. Winn bred a single perfect specimen from 

 the Brake, which confirmed my belief in its distinctness, but Mr. Winn 

 submitted his specimen to Mr. Bird, who pronounced it piirpuri fascia. 

 It was also bred at Ottawa by some of the Ottawa entomologists, and on 

 being submitted to Mr. Bird, he wrote that he knew the form " like a 

 book," and that it was only a variety of Harrisii, and under that name it 

 was listed in Dr. Fletcher's ''Record." I tried to obtain the material to 

 breed these three forms side by side, but before I succeeded Mr. Bird's 

 description appeared. 



It matters little who describes a species so long as it is well done, 

 and I know of no one better qualified for the task than Mr. Bird, who 

 has made himself so thoroughly master of this group. I cannot, however, 

 congratulate him upon the name chosen. It was, perhaps, not unnatu- 

 rally supposed that the name was intended in some way to indicate the 

 food-plant, as in the case of baptisice, thalictri and eupatoi'ii, but upon 

 objection being made that the genitive of //^/-/j' should be //<?r/^/.f, the 

 author wrote that it was quite a mistake to suppose that the name was 

 intended to indicate the food-plant, and that the species was dedicated to 

 his pet cat which rejoices in the name Pterisius, and that those who spell 

 Harrisii with a capital should do the same in the case of Pterisii. One 

 may, perhaps, be pardoned for objecting, that, while this may satisfactorily 

 account for the derivation of the name of the moth, the derivation of the 

 name of the immortal cat remains obscure, but fancy bracketing Thaddeus 

 William Harris with a cat ! " That yellow, sickly brake " may or may 

 not indicate the presence of this species, as I have examined more that 

 had not been bored than that had. My experience with the larva has 

 been limited to one season, but I have not found it especially parasitized, 

 as out of five or six mature larvae found, I obtained four moths. 



Mr. Bird's statements in regard' to my Gortyna cerata appear to me 

 a little misleading. It was not I who referred it as a synonym o( ?ielita, 

 Strecker, but Dr. J. B. Smith, on account of which I made a special 

 pilgrimage to Reading to see the types of Dr. Strecker's species, and not 

 being able to discover any apparent difference beyond what might be 

 expected between flown ^n^ bred material, and not being one of those 



