1865.] 207 



riment, before any light can be thrown upon them The peculiar con- 

 ditions of life in portions of the areas of distribution of species which 

 influence the formation of local sexual varieties also require to be stu- 

 died. In the case of insects there is a further complication in the 

 metamorphoses; for some imago varieties may have originated in the 

 egg, larva or pupa state, and all this requires investigation. We are, 

 in fact, only on the threshold of this most pregnant and interesting 

 subject, and it would be a gain to science, if American Entomologists 

 would take it up, for the North x\merican Fauna supplies endless ma- 

 terial for the investigation. 



On the Synonymy of PAEATHYRIS ANGELICA. Grote. 



BY AUG. R. GROTE. 



(Communicated January 9, 1865.) 



On examining the figure of the South American Parathj/ris ccilo- 

 nulli given by Cramer, I find that the species probably differs gene- 

 rieally from our allied North American forms: P. torrefacta and P. An- 

 gelica; I readily adopt then the generic term proposed for these by Dr. 

 Packard. 



The South American genus is distinguished by the more elongate 

 anterior wings, which are not truncate at the apices, and the propor- 

 tionally more reduced secondaries; its habitus thus recalls certain 

 Sphingidse, and compared with which our species, with their more 

 similarly sized anterior and posterior wings, present a more geometri- 

 form appearance. 



With myself, Dr. Packard has only seen the female of the second 

 species, in which the lateral white abdominal pustulations are quite 

 distinct, and of which I give the following synonymy : — 



APATELODES, Packard. 

 Apatelodes Angelica. Grote. 



Parathyris Angelica, Grote, Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad., Vol. 3, p. 322, Plate 4, fig. 



1. ?. (1864.) 

 Apatelodes liyalino-puncta, Pack., Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad., Vol. 3, p. 354. (1864.) 



Ffnbltat. — Eastern and Middle States. (Coll. Ent. Soc. Philad.) 



This exquisite species is of apparently rarer occurrence than its con- 

 gener — Apatelodes torrefacta. 



