NOVITATBS ZOOLOOICAE XXVI. 1919. 33 



8. Boisduvalia personata Wlk. (p. 608). 



Mr. L. B. Prout has examined the type of this species at the British Museum 

 and there is no doubt that Houlbert has placed the species in its right position. 



9. Erythrocastnia sypbax Fabr. and Amanta angusta Druce 



are both placed as synonyms by Houlbert in conformity with Monsieur Ober- 

 thiir's well-known dictum. 



If Fabricius neglected to figure syphax there is no reason why it should 

 be sunk under harmodius Cram., who figured it first. The same applies to 

 angusta Druce. 



In this connection we would call attention to Monsieur Oberthiir's remarks 

 at the bottom of page 370. He argues that if the type is lost the species must 

 be referred to the category of the ignota. Now many practical entomologists 

 will contend that most species can be identified by their descriptions, more 

 especially if the correct habitat is given. A figure must only be a subsidiary aid 

 to identification. A good figure must not only show form and pattern, but 

 also all anatomical details, and this is absent in nearly all representations of 

 Lepidoptera. A rule laid down for Lepidoptera must obviously be applicable 

 to other animal forms as well as to plants. Would botanists and bacteriologists 

 prefer good figures of plants and bacteria to proper descriptions of them ? The 

 answer would be in the negative. Some species of insects, proved to be quite 

 distinct, so closely resemble others that without a complete description the species 

 could not be recognized, and as in these cases it is the description which gives 

 us the clue to identification, the figure must remain of secondary importance. 



Monsieur Houlbert divides the Castniinae into 33 genera, of which 21 are 

 regarded as new. These genera comprise 179 forms, of which 39 are new, but 

 of these there are 4 names which we have a,lready submitted should be sunk 

 as synonyms. 



We also find that the names given to some of the new genera are pre- 

 occupied. These are Boisduvalia, preoccupied Desv. in Diptera (1830) ; Elina, 

 preoccupied Blanch, in Saiyridae (1852); Xanihospila, preoccupied Fairmaire 

 in Coleoptera (1884) ; Westwoodia preoccupied Brulle in Hymenoptera (1864) 

 and several times since ; Cabirus Hiibn. 



The genus Cabirus Hiibn. was a composite one, comprising linus (a Castnia) 

 and julettus (a Hesperid). Scudder in 1875 rejected linus and made julettus the 

 type, and this has since been accepted by aU writers on the Hesperidae. In the 

 Castniinae this name now stands as Cabirus Houlb. nee Hiibn. As linus Cram. 

 is the oldest name for the group we must use the generic name Gazera Boisd., 

 which that author undoubtedly created for linus Cram. 



The group included by Houlbert imder Gazera is represented by zagraea 

 Feld. as the oldest species, and for this the generic name of Doubledaya was 

 proposed by Buchecker, Syst. Ent. Castn., t. 23 (1880 ?). This name wiU there- 

 fore stand, providing the genus is sufficiently charactered. 



The spUtting up of the Castniinae into several genera, some of which only 

 lay claim to generic distinction by reason of their scheme of pattern and by 

 quite small differences in the shape of the pulvillus and paronychium, seems to 

 us to be of doubtful value. This is more so in the absence of any comparative 

 study of the genitaha of these groups. 



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