112 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



auditory sense, if present, much less potent ; but sight, smell and touch 

 are evident and variously developed. This perfectly harmonizes with 

 Newman's circular view, given in the Entomologist, vol. iv., p. 236. 



Next, it has been a long standing practice with the authors of works 

 on British Butterflies to treat of the five groups represented in these 

 islands in the following order : Papilionidce^ Nymphalidce, Erycinidce^ 

 LyccenidcB and Hesperidce ; but since the first family has close affinity with 

 the last, according to Dr. Scudder and others, the method is only plausible 

 on the principle of extremes meeting ; the better arrangement every way 

 being this, Nymphalidce, Erychiidce, Lyccenidce, Papilionidce and Hesperidce. 

 Then if physiological reasons could ever be got to prevail over the fancy 

 for having the butterflies first, I would likewise suggest a further arrange- 

 ment of five groups of moths, showing the development of that structure 

 at the base of the abdomen I attribute with the faculty of hearing, the 

 highest of insect senses, thus : Noctuifia, Bo7nbycina, Geoffieiritia and 

 SpJmigina. Between the Geometrina and Sphingina come as I consider 

 the butterflies, springing from either group in the species of Urania and 

 the Hesperidcz respectively. At the best, however, must it appear that any 

 such linear system is to be inferior to the Darwinian method of a theor- 

 etical descent, for if lines are not to meet somewhere, what can be made 

 out of case-bearing Boinbycina, and case-bearing Tinei?ia that harmonize 

 like the species of Licurvaria ; and why is our ghost moth such a strange 

 anomaly? One warm, still evenmg at the commencement of July, 1881, 

 v/andering out butterfly net in hand to watch for the comet to appear over 

 our chalk hill, I came on a spot where an elder bush stood clearly defined 

 against the full harvest moon, over whose ivory blossoms several males of 

 this moth were dancing sideways, little fans full of whimsicality glowing in 

 the dusk like whiting on the hook or calico caught by the sunshine. It 

 was a beautiful and saintly apparition, that held me long before courage 

 was mustered sufficient to catch a couple for the cabinet. Two ghosts 

 however were eventually boxed, and as I spread these out on the setting 

 board I became much struck by the circumstance how little they gave me 

 the idea of a moth, and how little they harmonized with the moths of the 

 group to which they are accredited. Their four wings all alike, wanting 

 the hook and eye to link them, suggested most those of a dragon-fly, and 

 seemed to point to a greater development of the mesothoracic muscles to 

 sustain their increased exertion. Their expansile fans on their hinder 

 femora, and their subterranean larvK, brought one back to the owl moths 



