14 PREFACE. 



contains no types, but it contains a duplicate series of many of the 

 Texan species described by Messrs. Grote and Harvey, often under tlie 

 exact label in number and color mentioned in the characterization of 

 the type. 



Of the species more recently described by myself, the museum con- 

 tains a large proportion of the types. It has \)een my efltbrt to place, 

 so far as I could do so, the types of all my species in this museum, and 

 to make it, for the future American students, as nearly typical and 

 comx)lete as x)0ssible. My various contributions toward a monograph 

 of the noctuidse are based on this collection, and the collection is ar- 

 ranged and named in accord with my publislied work, which it thus 

 typifies. In the American noctuidai this collection is, in the quality of 

 material, the length of series, the localities represented, and range ot 

 variation shown, by far the best in the country or even in the world, 

 for the British Museum series is very much poorer in specimens, though 

 incomparably richer in types. 



With the above explanation, the references to the location of types 

 made in the following pages will be easily understood. 



As already indicated, my systematic work necessitated the forma- 

 tion of a card catalogue. As a starting point I adopted Mr. Grote's 

 bibliographical list of 1874, and transferred it to cards, adding subse- 

 quent references from time to time so as to keep it ui) to date. Nat- 

 urally enough I followed Mr. Grote's plan at first and noted neitlier 

 the date of the publication nor the dates of flight, even when given. 

 Localities were indicated only in the most general terms. I soon found 

 that I could not rely on the accuracy of Mr. Grote's references in all 

 cases, and that there was no pretence of completeness in the biblio- 

 graphy. Occasionally only the name of the imblication and page were 

 given and neither volume nor year. I have therefore, in almost every 

 case verified the references given, and where I have copied bibliography 

 and synonymy without verification I have generally stated that fact. 

 In spite of all care I can not hope to have escaped errors. Every ref- 

 erence has been transcribed from original note to card and from card 

 to manuscript, and finally transferred to type. This leaves a margin 

 for error, and although I have in the great majority of cases verified 

 the reference to original description from the manuscript, errors may 

 have crept in and may have been overlooked. 



The omission of dates of publication in my original cards made it nec- 

 essary to go over every reference to make the additition and here I 

 found Dr. Hagen's "Bibliotheca" invaluable. Yet the dates given of 

 some of the older works issued in parts can be considered as approxi- 

 mate merely. In most cases this is of little ])ractical importance, and 

 where it is, I have gotten as close to the truth as I could. Some of 

 these works bear the date of the preface or title page while the body 

 of the work may not have appeared for some years afterward. Hiib- 

 ner's Verzeichniss is dated 1816 and contains references to the noc- 



