66 CHAPTER I 



TYCHius (miccotrogus) PICIROSTRIS F. 



Brit. Isl., Eur. only. t Brit. Col. & Wash. -Nov. Scot, (prob- 



ably transamerican). 



TYCHIUS STEPHENSI Schnh. {tomentosus Hbst.) 

 Brit. Isl., Eur. only. t E U.S.A., E Can. 



Macro-Lepidoptera — Butterflies and Moths 



Lepidoptera, especially the "Macros", are the most collected of all insects and the 

 literature dealing with them is excessively rich. In spite of this, the attempts to 

 get a tolerably complete picture of Eur- American species met with greater difficul- 

 ties than in any other group of animals here treated. Lepidopterists generally 

 seem too interested in local faunas and description of new aberrations (often termed 

 "subspecies"). Furthermore, the perpetual change of nomenclature, in names of 

 all categories, and the unfortunate splitting-up of the old genera, often on small 

 or obscure characters, have made the modern literature on Macrolepidoptera 

 almost unsurveyable to the non-specialist. 



Seitz' "Gross-Schmetterlinge "(1909-24) has been very useful but, of course, is 

 not up to date. Djakonov (1931), Valle (1933), Kozhantshikov (1937, 1950), have 

 given supplements for the Palaearctis. For North America, McDunnough's Check 

 List (1938) provided excellent service though, unfortunately, it does not give the 

 distribution. Many Palaearctic species are by him marked as doubtful in North 

 America; these I have omitted, unless the occurrence was later confirmed. For 

 Butterflies, Klots (1951) has been used, for some of the other groups Forbes 

 (1923, 1948, 1954). Krogerus (1954) and Ferguson (1955) published excellent 

 local faunas, of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia respectively. For additional 

 papers the reader is referred to the bibliography of Chapter I (p. 126 a. f.). 



The difficulties mentioned above induced me to send the preliminary list of 

 Eur- American Macrolepidoptera to Mr. D. C. Ferguson, Halifax, and Dr. E. G. 

 Munroe, Ottawa. The latter co-operated, on my behalf, with Dr. T. N. Freeman 

 concerning the Diurna and with Dr. D. F. Hardwick concerning the Noctuids. 

 Mr. Ferguson also consulted Dr. J. G. Franclemont. I am highly indebted to these 

 gentlemen for the additions and corrections made, and also to Dr. H. Krogerus, 

 Helsingfors, for valuable suggestions. 



Among possible Eur-American species, the following have been omitted in 

 await of further evidence: Chrysophanes {Heodes, Lycaend) phlaeas L. {americana 



