i8;j 



XV. On Wallengren's '' Lepidoptera Scandinaviae 

 Heterocera disposita et descripta." 



BY AUG. 11. GROTE. 



The meritorious work of II. I). J. Wullengren on Swedisli Moths 

 (Lund, 18G3), has not, as yet, received our attention. The first part 

 (Closterocera) is before us, and a hrief reference to certain points 

 presented by it may be of interest. FolloAving Dumeril and Bois- 

 duval, Wallengren assumes divisions higher than Famihes for tlie 

 Moths, but although their definitions are more extended, they arc not 

 recommended to acceptation by any more important contradistinc- 

 tions than when first announced by the French Entomologists. And 

 although Wallengren says, " Closterocernes antennform skiljer dessa 

 fjiirilar genast fran alia Xematocera och Chetocera" (p. 4), lie leaves 

 out of consideration the American Zygaenoid genera, certain of Avhich 

 are not separable from Wallengren's Xematocera on antennal char- 

 acters. To his exception " Paranthrena," (properly written Paran- 

 threne, Hiihner, S. 128), must now also be added the Texan Setioid 

 genus Zenodoxus, G. and R. To the gradual modification of the 

 antennae throughout the Suborder (more perceivable, perhaps, in 

 our American fauna) is owing a gradual change in structure 

 Avhich necessarily makes any HEpaq classification unnatural and 

 impossible.' 



Wallengren retains the less compact Smerinthoid species in the 

 highest position among the Sphingidae. We object to this on the 

 ground that their Bombyciform analogies, nnprismatic antennae 

 (g. Cressonia, etc.), and weak abdomen, are characters of inferiority. 

 The transformation of Haemorrhagia is more like that of the Iles- 

 peridae, and the diurnal flight of Iliibner's Bombyliae (Vnlgares), is 

 a character entitling them to highest rank. The aborted maxillae 

 and nocturnal flight of Smerinthus are characters indicating a 



1 See the paper on Antenna! Structure, read before the Torthmd Meeting of the American 

 Association iuv the Ailvanccnient of Science. 



