202 J. A. LINTNER. 



Avould be proper to subject us, only in consideration of the warrant 

 therefor, resting on no indefinite constructions. 



If, however — in strict obedience to a law of zoological nomenclature, 

 which demands that a name to have authority, must be accompanied 

 by "a definition giving a distinct exposition of essential characters" — 

 it should be deemed proper to deny to Fabi-icius the authority of the 

 name, then our species should be known as interrojationis, Godart, for 

 while that of Fabricius ma// be our red-wing Grapta, that of Godart 

 given in his supplement,, and quoted in vol. ii, page 318, of these 

 Transactions, could be no other of the species now known to us, for his 

 description of its coloration and ornamentation is so accurate as to leave 

 no room for doubt. The Interrogatioius first defined by Godart, on 

 page 302 of his volume, should probably be rejected, as it calls for the 

 falcated primaries of interrogationis, and the blue-black secondaries of 

 umbrosa — features which are not combined in any known species. 

 Subsequently, finding himself in error, he gives in a supplement, an- 

 other description marked duplicata, which seems to be intended not to 

 supplement but to take the place of the former. It would have re- 

 lieved us from some perplexity, had he presented the reason for this 

 second description. It was evidently deemed by him to be quite im- 

 portant, for of the seventeen hundred and forty-nine species of Diur- 

 nals described in the volume, but four others are given in duplicate; 

 of these we are told that two had been originally described from the 

 male only, one from an imperfect specimen, of the other a wrong fe- 

 male had been given, bat wherein the error of the former text of iii- 

 tcrrojat'umis consisted, we are left to conjecture. 



The description of the duplicata covers both sexes, with some spe- 

 cial features of the female particularized. There are no longer black 

 hind-winf>s, and except that the expanse is rather limited, every word 

 of it may be applied to our red-wing Grapta. 



It is possible that all doubt existing with respect to this species, 

 may yet be resolved, by the examination of the original Fabriciau 

 specimen, which Mr. Edwards states is still preserved in the collections 

 of the British Museum, but of which he has been unable to obtain 

 any representation or satisfactory information. 



Having endeavored to show that there exists no good grounds for 

 believing that our interro<jntionis may have been the 0-aureum of 

 Fabricius, we will next examine the reasons for the determination of Mr. 

 Edwards, that inferrof/ationis, Fab., is identical with my umlirosa and 

 adduce some evidence against such determination. 



The reasons as given in the paper, are two, the first of which is, that 



