, 1902.] GROTE — SEARCH FOR THE TYPE OF NOCTUA LINN. 5 



past forty years, I have had occasion to investigate the subject. 

 The results, as to the types of our genera, are given by me in 1874, 

 in the Bull. Buff. Soc. N. Sciences, and in the two following years in 

 the Buffalo Check List ; in 1895 ""^ the Abh. Naturw. Verein, Bre- 

 men, also in the pages of the Entotnologisf s Record, London, 

 England, Vol. vi, 27 et seq.; in 1900 in the Can. Entomologist, 

 209 ; also in publications of the Reenter Museum and in these 

 Proceedings. 



In the present paper I have brought together the historical evi- 

 dence as to the types of certain leading generic titles, often, per- 

 haps commonly, used in a perverted sense, or given with a wrong 

 authority. I have also investigated the question of the use of Noc- 

 tua as a generic title in the Lepidoptera. I could not have attempted 

 this latter without the kind aid of Mr. Jno. Hartley Durrant, of 

 Thetford, England. The type here ascertained is pronuba. The 

 name Noctua is first used by Klein in 1753 ^"^^ ^ genus of MoUusca. 

 Linne introduced it then, in 1758, into the Lepidoptera in his com- 

 bined term Phalaena Noctua. Fabricius follows with Noctua as a 

 generic term in 1775, 177^-77, and claims the authorship. For 

 those who reject any limitation for the application of the law of 

 priority, its use in 1753 will prevent its being later employed in a 

 different group of animals. It was not used in the Birds until 

 1809 by Savigny, a fact to which Boisduval drew attention in 

 1829. 



In my late List (1895) of the North American Noctuids, I gave 

 the ascertained types ; what very few corrections have been found 

 necessary are here made. The concluding portion of this List, em- 

 bracing the Catocalinae and Hypeninse, is not yet published. The 

 unemployed terms in the Verzeichniss of Hiibner need not be con- 

 sidered in the American Catalogue. They may be neglected until 

 such time when the faunae of Europe and America be so minutely 

 compared, that subjective opinion can seize upon the smallest char- 

 acter for generic differentiation. As a rule, Hiibner's genera in the 

 Verzeichniss are of mixed contents, and I believe all having present 

 application have been noticed by me. 



In conclusion, I must thank Mr. Louis B. Prout, of London, 

 England, and Mr. J. D. Alfken, of Bremen, for bibliographical 

 assistance. 



