73 



VI. Contributions to a Knowledge of North American 



Moths 



BY AUG. II. GROTE. 

 [Bead before this Society, June Qtk, 1873.] 



DuMERiL, in 1823, and afterwards Boisduval, in 183C, availed 

 themselves of the structural feature offered by the different anten- 

 na! forms in the Lepidoptera to establish ideal divisions, higher 

 than Families, in the sub-order. Although not so strongly insisted 

 upon, other considerations may have suggested themselves, appar- 

 ently justifying a separation of the Butterflies from the rest of the 

 Lepidoptera. But, as we become acquainted with the sub-order, 

 the peculiarities of the Butterflies lessen by comparison. And 

 since the form of the antennae is nowhere absolute, and even in 

 reality will not always separate the Butterflies from many Moths, 

 and since the divisions proposed by Dr. Boisduval are evidently of 

 unequal value, and the character on which they rest of little sys- 

 tematic weight, the terms cannot be retained. Boisduval's terms 

 are in part synchronous with Dameril's, which, in case of accept- 

 ance of the values intended, should be preferred. The compara- 

 tively persistent character of the clavate antennae in the Butterflies 

 is noticed by Hiibner in 181G. But it is evident that the Hesperi- 

 dae, for instance, present a modification of the form of the anten- 

 nus as we find it in the higher Butterflies, and are accordingly not 

 to be indifferently classed with them. It w^ould seem as though the 

 succession of Family groups in the Lepidoptera is not to be dis- 

 turbed by higher exact division, nor need we employ other terms 

 than our common ones for general purposes of designation. 



Professor Agassiz, in 1849, records a character which had been 

 before unnoticed by the classificators of the sub-order. Agassiz 

 calls attention to the fact, that there is a common position of the 



BUL. BUr. 90C. NAT. SCI. (10) JCH,Y, 1873. 



