88 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^oi. xxiii. 



terrible rate. I am most anxious to see what the cocoon will be," 

 he writes in April, '89, and a week later says — " One of the larvae has 

 spun a thin cocoon in a lettuce leaf and is quietly undergoing his 

 change; the other looks as if it were preparing." In June he tells 

 of the emergence of the moths, one a female which laid ten ggs 

 before her death, " I only wish," he says, "that they could have been 

 hatched and that I could have raised a brood. I hope you may be 

 more successful." When I wrote in that same year of taking at 

 Franconia a moth which I suspected might be Walker's Phragmatobia 

 assimilans and asked if he had seen the type in British Museum he 

 wrote, " Walker's species is at present quite unknown to me." But 

 the next day he corrected this statement saying, " I find in my note 

 book on British Museum collection with regard to this species. 

 ' Looks like a large specimen of rtihricosa, but one example has no 

 spots.' So you see I did examine it but my memory did not serve 

 me yesterday." Soon after this I sent him a specimen of a Spilosoma 

 which seemed unfamiliar and his letter of acknowledgment says, " I 

 am puzzled — as I am indeed about the whole genus. It sadly wants 

 examination and, for this purpose, a large number of examples from 

 various localities should be carefully noted. I am not yet certain 

 what congrua is. I am sure it is not niobe or antigone. At present 

 I agree with you that your species is new." This is the species I 

 afterwards described as prima. I sent him the manuscript of my de- 

 scription and he wrote, approving and saying, " The only suggestion 

 I can make is that you should emphasize more strongly the difference 

 in the color of coxse and tibice. In prima they are dark smoky, in 

 congrua, aitfigoiie, and virginica they are bright orange. This seems 

 to me the best character for the separation of your new species." 

 Mr. Edwards did not live to read, perhaps engage in, the warm 

 discussion on this very subject, Spilosoma congrua and its allies, car- 

 ried on for several months by Messrs. Fyle, Smith, Dyar and Lyman 

 in Canadian Entomologist (Vols. XXXI and XXXII). Mr. Lyman 

 styled the matter an " Entomological muddle " and it only ended 

 when Dr. Bethune assumed the black cap and sentenced the enthu- 

 siastic debaters to silence with the fateful words " This controversy 

 is now closed as far as the pages of this magazine are concerned." 

 I am happy to say that my own poor little species was allowed to 

 retain the name I had given it. 



