A. R. G rote's Notes on the Zyysenulx of Cuba. 333 



direction of an admonishment to others to exorcise care in scientific discrimina- 

 tions. The Bpeciea winch [ allude to as improperly separated by Mr. Walsh, 

 .-ire as follows: — Walesidota antiphola, Walsh ( Hal. tessellaris, Smith ep., de- 

 scribed "long after" Smith's "time"); Halesidota harrisii, Walsh (=Halis. tes- 

 sellaris, Walsh, non Smith sp., apud Walsh, but in reality identical, inasmuch as 

 the imagos are undistinguishable, and it' you rear the moths from larvae with 

 "black" thoracic tufts, yon have one, if from larvae with "orange-colored" tho- 

 racic tufts, you have the other of these so-called •■species," which Mr. W. has 

 "shown" to be "absolutely undistinguishable" in the imago state, and yet has 

 separated as distinct species. •• in process," too, " of formation - '): Sphingicampa 

 (n. gen.) distigma, Walsh (=Dryocampa bieolor, Harris, WalshY. It is, in fact, 

 no less a person than Mr. Walsh himself, who. in describing the above-men- 

 tioned species of Halisidota-, has turned "varieties" into " species," and who, 

 when erecting the genus Sphingicampa, manufactured actually two "genera" out 

 of one "species." That it was in an attempt to palm off the Darwinian theory 

 upon Entomologists, thai the above errors were committed, and that the detec- 

 tion of these mistakes recoils upon that theory through its ill advised supporter, 

 will be the only gratifying features attending these synonyms to those scien- 

 tists, who have been led through their studies to reject the Developmental 

 theory of Creation. But Mr. Walsh's critical insinuations in the article here 

 alluded to. are not palliatives for his own short comings, however much he may 

 have desired they should be, while in order to make as much of them as possible. 

 Mr. Walsh has allowed himself to distort the true facts of the case, which are 

 these : Dr. Packard cited Harris's MS. determination of the species, and so can- 

 not he said to have -'named" it, and I. as stated above, never described " this 

 same species" as "Hymenopsyche thoracicum," neither did Dr. Clemens charge 

 me with doing so. Mr. Walsh, in all these instances, to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



However, the position of Mr. Walsh, with regard to the validity of the above 

 cited genera and species and to the success of the " Entomological speculation" 

 dependent on thai validity, may be compared with that of Menecrates in the 

 matter of bee-bread, a substance which was held by this Ancient to be a 

 flower. Pliny (Hist. Nat. Lib. XI, c. 7), in recording this opinion of Menecrates, 

 somewhat summarily disposed of both it and its Author, in adding : "but no 

 one says bo but him." Were Mr. Walsh's Dryocampa bieolor, and Sphingicampa 

 distigma, really and in fact distinct forms, it would appear that an important 

 weapon were thereby placed in the hands of the Derivatists. But, since the 

 statement of such distinctiveness is the result of erroneous assumption and 

 supposition, the supposed species may be considered as a sort of entomological 

 Professor Teufels-drockh of Weissnichtwo, or Mrs. Harris. One of Mr. 

 Walsh's Papers, thai on Phytophagic Varieties and Phytophagic Species, 

 contains erroneous statements which inferentially tell against the value of 

 Mr. Walsh's evidence in such matters. For instance, a jJoint is made by the 

 statement that Tropsea I una, feeds only on "walnut and hickory." which 

 i- incorrect, since this species feeds commonly in certain localities, on the gum. 

 L. styraciflua. In Putnam County, X. V., last October, Mr. Robinson and my- 

 self, while "chestnutting," knocked a full-grown larva of T. luna, from the 

 branches of a chestnut tree standing by itself in an open field; so that the 

 "chestnut" is also a food-plantof this species. Platysamia cecropia, feeds on 

 an immense variety of trees and shrubs of both native and foreign origin. In 

 fact our Attaci, a sub-family of typical Bombycidse, are essentially polyphagic, 



