JOHN B. SMITH, SC. D. 861 



Unfortunately I have not had a male specimen of my own for 

 dissection ; such studies as I have been able to make show a genita- 

 lic structure utterly out of line with any other species in the genus. 



There are in collections a number of examples allied to mojos, and 

 it may be that some are really forms of that species ; but all the 

 specimens— one of them in my own collection — are too poor to serve 

 as safe bases for new names. 



Orthosia americana Morr., has been already referred to 0. lota of 

 Europe, and is without much doubt based on a European example. 

 To the courtesy of Prof, R. H. Pettit I owe an opportunity of again 

 examining the type, and after comparing it carefully with authentic 

 examples of lota, I do not hesitate to declare it the same. 



In 1875, and for some years before and after, there lived in 

 Hoboken, New Jersey, an old collector who had remarkable success 

 in capturing species that no one else seemed to be able to find. For 

 a consideration he was usually willing to part with some of his 

 prizes, and so, gradually, there came into collections a number of 

 specimens without names, all credited to New Jersey, which re- 

 mained as puzzles for a considerable time. As this collector lived 

 in the outskirts of the city, had a large garden and had plenty of 

 wood and scrub land near by, it was not considered strange that l)y 

 dilligent collecting he should capture more species than others not 

 so well situated. And when in Sphinges and Bombycids it was 

 found that many of his species were identical with Euz-opean forms, 

 that was not considered so strange either, because at that time there 

 was a pretty general belief that many of the American species were 

 really the same as those on the other side of the Atlantic. But 

 when it was found that some butterflies purchased from him had 

 been ingeniously stained and tinted, belief in his honesty was shaken, 

 and when it was learned that no one else could find these European 

 species in New Jersey, that label gradually disappeared from the 

 examples or they were entirely discarded. Unfortunately Mr. Mor- 

 rison got hold of a few of these "uniques" and straightway described 

 them as new. Most of them have been eliminated ere tliis. A few 

 still have a hold in our lists because direct comparisons have been 

 for some reason impossible. 0. americana must be omitted here- 

 after, to be cited only in the synonymy to 0. lota. 



Orthosia immaculata Morr. is included by Hampson with Aina- 

 t-hes; but can hardly belong here. The description indicates a spe- 



TBANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XXXIII. (46) DECEMBER, 1907. 



