b GKOTE — SEARCH FOR THE TYPE OF NOCTUA LINX. [Jan. 3, 



FarbiciU3, Genera Insectoruiu. . . . Mantissa specterum, Chilonii. 



There is no date on title-page, but the Preface is dated Kiliae, 

 Dec. 26, 1776. This work is not given by Staudinger and Rebel, 

 p. xviii, but is cited for viminalis with the date 1777. Fabricius 

 quotes it, in 1 781, as '^ Gen. Ins. Mant." It contains only six spe- 

 cies under Noctua, but these are all new and constitute no restric- 

 tion of those given previously. They are as follows : 



(i) p. 282, Noctua bokti. This is Scardia boleti, a Tineid. 



(2) p. 282, Noctua virescens. This appears to be the earliest 

 description of the North American Noctuid Chloridea virescens 

 Westw. ex Fab. and is neglected in the Washington Catalogue, 

 1893. 



(3) p. 283, Noctua roboris. I cannot find this citation in Stand- 

 inger and Rebel. Reference is made to Roesel, I, tab. 50, and the 

 insect there depicted maybe Dryobota roboris B., Cat. I, No. 1821. 



(4) p. 283, Noctua monilis. This appears to be the earliest de- 

 scription of the North American Noctuid Hypsoropha monilis 

 Hiibn. ex Fab., with a wrong locality, *' Anglia." 



(5) p. 283, Noctua lanceolata. The habitat is given as Germany. 

 I cannot find the citation in Staudinger and Rebel. 



(6) p. 284, Noctua viminalis. This is Cleoceris viminalis, re- 

 ferred incorrectly in the Catalogue, No. 1560, to Bombycia. The 

 type of Bombycia Hiibn., 1806, is B. or. 



Fabricius, Species Insectoruui^ Hamburgi et Kilonii, II, 1781. 



In this work 150 species are enumerated under Noctua, pp. 209- 

 241. The six of the Gen. Ins. Mant. are included. 



Fabricius, Mantissa Insectorum, Hafnise, II, 1787. 



In this work 309 species are enumerated under Noctua, pp. 135- 

 184, and those previously described appear to be all carried for- 

 ward. 



In his Genera Insectorum, 1776, Fabricius cites " Phala^na Linn. 

 Geoff." as equivalent to his genus Noctua, of which he evidently 

 considers himself the author. Fabricius restricts Phalaena (p. 164, 

 /. c.') to the Geometrids, using the term in a generic sense and 

 citing Linn. Geoff, as authority. Following his own precedent he 

 should here have applied Linne's term Geometra. Linne's '*Pha- 

 laense," 1758, is evidently employed in a comprehensive sense, em- 

 bracing all the seven groups : Bombyces, Noctuoe, etc. I have 



