THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 



allow myself the question : Might not all controversy about generic 



names, whether from earlier or later editions of Linne's or from other early 



authorities, be dropped, and all punctilious adhesion to priority be 



-dismissed ; might not the long-familiar names on the strength of above 



named second-hand authorities be with safety fixed upon as final and 



generally acknowledged ? 



Yours respectfully, 



James Behrens. 



P. S. — It would be well if the authors of new created generic names 

 would give their Greek or Latin derivations. 



habitat, economy, etc., of agrotis fennica, eversman. 



Spring Bank, St. Catharines, Ont., Dec. 22, 1873. 

 Dear Sir, — 



I am very anxious to obtain information respecting Agrotis feiiJiica, 

 Eversman, whether it is an abundant species in any part of Canada or the 

 United States, and, being a stranger in this country, would be very 

 thankful would any gentleman conversant with the insect, kindly aid me 

 in the pages of the Can. Ent., by any information he may posess touching 

 its economy in the larval state, food plant, time of year when the imago 

 is found, or any other necessary details. 



Finally, should any Entomologist have duplicate specimens to spare, I 

 need scarcely say they will be very acceptable, and later on in the season 

 I will do my best in return to repay the obligation, and send an equivalent 

 in any desirable species from this neighborhood. 



I have read with much interest the articles on collecting in late 

 numbers of the Can. Ent., especially as my experience with cyanide of 

 potassium as a killing material induced me years ago to abandon that 

 method. I had the material both in tight-fitting boxes and glass-stoppered 

 bottles, in all cases the cyanide being covered with a stratum of plaster 

 of Paris. As a killer it does admirably, but, according to my experience, 

 it renders the moths so rigid that in setting the wings arc very liable to 

 be torn in lifting them into position. This method of killing with cyanide 

 was, indeed, condemned years ago in England owing to this very cause. 



Geo. Norman. 



