28 XOVTTATES ZOOLOOICAE XXVI. 1919. 



EEVIEW OF A MONOGRAPH OP THE " CASTNIINAE." * 

 By GEORGE TALBOT. 



MONSIEUR CHARLES OBERTHtin and Monsieur C. Houlbert, Professor 

 to the University of Rennes, are to be congratulated on the publica- 

 tion of an important monograph on the moths of the family C'astniidae. The 

 sub-family Castnihuie, which is wholly American, is alone dealt with, but it is 

 hoped that Monsieur Houlbert will be able to give us at some future date further 

 studies on the rest of the family. 



The author was fortunate in having plenty of material at his disposal, 

 because the Castniids are not common in collections, and many species are very 

 rare. Besides the material provided by the Oberthiir collection, containing 

 types of Boisduval and Guenee, there was placed at his disposal the rich collec- 

 tion of the Paris Museum, which included the types of Godart. 



The work is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Boisduval, and comprises 

 730 pages of text, besides 16 pages of introduction. There are numerous text- 

 figures, including a large number of excellent photographs. The plates in 

 colour, for which the Etudes have been always famous, are not to be surpassed 

 and are wonderfully delineated by Monsieur Jules Culot ; there are 26 of 

 them, showing 70 figures. AU the known species are figured with a few excep- 

 tions, these being in the case of some very rare forms not known to the author 

 in nature. 



The first chapter deals with the anatomical characters used in the classifica- 

 tion ; the second with the early stages ; the third with previous systems of 

 classification of the family ; the fourth with the systematic arrangement adopted 

 by the author, an analytical key to the tribes and genera being given. 



The second part of the work deals with the description of every knowTi 

 species, and the third part with their phylogeny and distribution. 



A systematic catalogue with synonymy is given at the end, but we wish 

 that the synonymy had been more complete, many references in the text not 

 being included here, whilst many others are omitted altogether. 



We have spent a portion of our leave from military duties in examining 

 certain portions of Monsieur Houlbert's work, especially with a view to throwing 

 more light on some species described by Druee. Mr. J. J. Joicey kindly gave 

 us facilities for comparing specimens and types of Druce's species in his Lepi- 

 dopterological Museum at Witley, where assistance was also rendered by Mr. 

 L. B. Prout, who is acting as curator in our absence. 



We wiU first deal with the Druce species : 



1. Corybantes dolopia Druce (p. 186). 



The type is a $, and there is a second 9 in the collection without locality. 

 After careful comparison of these with the description and excellent figure of 

 fusca Houlb. {p. 184), we conclude that fxisca is the S of dolopia and must there- 



* Rivinon munographique de la Soua-FamilU des Castniinae, par C. Houlbert. {Oberthiir, Etudet 

 dt Lip. Comp., faac. iv. Mars 1918.) 



