120 



in the Catalogue, is evidently copied from niiue iu Am. Phil. Soc. 

 Trans., June, 1883, wliere I propose the three families Thyatiridae, 

 Noctuidae, Brephidae, the name Thyatiridae 1 believe originally, 

 and this copy is made without a proper acknowledgment of the 

 source. The seqaence in the "Catalogue" is for the most part my 

 own. The "Catalogue'' itself, so far as it is Mr. Smith's werk, is 

 less the result of a fresh iuvestigation iuto the synouymy, than that 

 of a comparison with labelled specinieiis in the British Museum and 

 other collections. Borne upon the bubble of assumption, Mr. Smith 

 passes lightly over the serious work of investigating in every case 

 the authenticity of these labeis. Since I wrote, much fresh western 

 material has been received in Washington which has been apparently 

 carefully identified by Mr. Smith in general, to who.se "Catalogue" 

 I am indebted for the enlarged localities. 



Spliida o])li(iua Walk. 



The aquatic habits and structure of the larvae of this tribe 

 are described by Comstock, Papilio, I., 148, 1881. For papers ou 

 other larvae with aquatic habits, consult Packard, Am. Nat. 824, 

 Aug. 1884, and W. Müller: lieber einige im Wasser lebende 

 Schmetterlingsraupen Brasiliens. The present tribe are the ouly 

 known Owlet Moths with aquatic habit as larvae, and are peculiarly 

 American. 1 have shown that they are related as moths to the 

 Nonagrians. 1 have mysolf seen none of the larvae, which raust 

 have apparently acquired the described structure of the spiracles by 

 subsecjuent adaptation to a life in the element in which they are 

 now so much at home as to remain voluntarily immersed for the 

 Space of half an hour. The earliest Insecta were doubtless gill- 

 breathing, losing the gills in exchange for the tracheal system. 

 Existing Insecta must then possess their structural modifications 

 enabling them to exist in water, through a gradual process of renewed 

 adaptation. 



Cerathosia and Cydosia. 



I cannot compare Cydosia at the moment; it may belong here, 

 in which case the name of the group may be changed. The present 

 genns is in no ca.se an Arctian; the o?)ly other jiossibility seenis to 

 me that both genera are Agaristidae. No Arctian and no Lithosian 

 bas such a structure of the head parts; thus Cerathosia is not 

 exdudcd from the Lithosians alone by the presence of ocelli, as in- 

 correctly stated by Mr. Smith, but by the structure of the clypeus 

 also, in structure (Cerathosia should not be comjiared with Uthosia, 

 but sonicwhat in form and colour. The diitted wings probably led 

 Mr. Smith to place it "next to Utethei.sa". Mr. Smith\s statement 

 that in no Xoctuid the costal ari.ses from the subcostal, appears to 

 be "foundod in ignorance"' of the vcnation of the family (see Grote, 

 Bremen Check I.ist, 40, 1890). I tliiiik then mv original pa])er 

 (Ent. Am. IV., 121, 1888) fully justilied by the facts and that 

 Mr. Smith's somewhat hysterical reply, kindly priuted on the back 



