33-1 A. R. Grote's Notes on the Zygsenidse. of Cuba. 



and, as a whole, this habit is characteristic of the entire Family. The Dryo- 

 campini do not feed on oaks to the extent that they may be called querciphagic ; 

 Anisota (Dryocampa, Harris) is found also on Pines on which Citheronia sepul- 

 cralis feeds, while its congener, C. regalis, feeds on plants as botanically 

 dissimilar as Cephalanthus occidentalis and the different species of Carya. Ea- 

 cles imperialis, has been several times taken by me on the horse-chestnut, 

 a tree of European origin. We owe perhaps, the creation of the new genus and 

 species by Mr. Walsh, to the circumstance that the problematical larva, (D. bi- 

 color, Walsh) was found on oak, and hence, according to Mr. W.'s reasoning, 

 must be a Dryocampa, and being Dryocampa, must have simple antennae in tin- 

 9- In these same Papers, the narrative of Mr. Walsh's breeding experiments 

 with Halisidota larva? is a perfect farce, and makes the subject unnecessarily 

 ridiculous. If it shows anything, beyond the style of Mr. Walsh's breeding- 

 cages, it is, that certain Lepidoptera, when in a half-grown larval state, cannot 

 be changed from their original food-plant with perfect impunity — a fact which 

 has been known for some time — and that Halisidota tessellaris is one of these. 

 Sweeping statements should not be made from the results of any single isolated 

 personal experience, and in future, Mr. Walsh would do well to consult addi- 

 tional evidence and to repeat his experiments before venturing on wholesale as- 

 sertions, on the accuracy of which much depends. It is true, that where evi- 

 dence is offered by other parties, Mr. Walsh has a cool way of rejecting it, where 

 such rejection suits his purposes, as in the instance of Mr. Ridings' testimony as 

 to the existence of intermediary ( J ) individuals between P. turnus and var. 

 glaucus. That these exist, is a notorious fact; such an one has been long ag" fi- 

 gured by Esper, and a number of intermediary ( 9 ) individuals, with the wings 

 more or less sprinkled with yellow scales, have occurred to me in New York 

 State. One taken by Mr. Ridings in Georgia, shows irregular j>atehes of yellow 

 scales on the upper surface of primaries. The geographical limits assigned by 

 Mr. Walsh to the melanitie form, glaucus, are also not strictly correct. Again, 

 the manner in which Dr. Harris' description cf the larva of H. tessellaris, is ac- 

 counted for, in the Paper before alluded to, is an illustration of another method 

 of treatment which direct evidence, where such conflicts with his theories, re- 

 ceives at the hands of Mr. Walsh, who has not been stopped in this instance by 

 Dr. Harris' known reputation for accuracy as an Entomological observer, but 

 has carried his remarks to the verge of unjustifiable aspersion. While thus, cm 

 the one hand, positive evidence is overlooked or distorted by Mr. Walsh, negative, 

 evidence is at times accorded undue weight by him. So, because Leucania uni- 

 puncta, is omitted in a book on the Insects injurious to Vegetation in the East- 

 ern States, the species is boldly stated not to occur there, (a manner of proving 

 an alibi, which would at least be a novel one in a Court of Justice,) and a prob- 

 lematical larva is determined as that of Dryocampa bicolor by the "process of 

 exhaustion." A proper redress of the wrongs which Lepidopterological Science 

 has received at the hands of Mr. Walsh, has not been offered, and is, perhapn, 

 not to be expected from him — Nescio guo/ato res mala facta bona est. 



