by Mr. AV. F. H. Blandford from a larva found in South Wales. The 

 local races of this insect are extremely interesting, more especially 

 as none of them show any tendency toward the type of Uteago as 

 known on the Continent. 



39, Linden Grove, Nunhead, S.E. : 

 June 2Qth, 1897- 



THE DIAMOND-BACK MOTH : PLUTELLA CRUCIFERARUM, Z. (1843), 



A SYNONYM OP CEROSTOMA MACULIPENNIS, Crt. (1832). 



BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD WALSINGHAM, M.A., LL.D.. F.R S., 



AND 



JOHN HARTLEY DURRANT, F.E.S., Memb. Soc. Ent. de France. 



In defiance of such rules as govern the use of names by adherence 

 to the ordinary law of priority, our little friend has passed under many 

 an alias, and it is time that his godfather's authority should be quoted 

 and his proper title restored. There are those who think that some 

 apology is necessary in such cases, but if a man's name were John he 

 would quickly call upon the person who dubbed him Richard to show 

 cause or climb down. 



No apology is asked in this case, and none will be offered. 

 Much confusion in nomenclature existed between the honeysuckle 

 feeder and the smaller species feeding upon various CrucifercB until 

 Zeller, in 1843, rightly restricted the Linnsean name xylostella to the 

 honeysuckle feeder, and called the smaller species cruciferarum, Z. 

 Unfortunately, in Staudinger and Wocke's Catalog xylostella, L., was 

 applied to the smaller species, cruciferarum, Z., being cited as a syno- 

 nym ; this error was corrected in the errata on p. 425, but the correction 

 has been much overlooked, and at the present moment in the Exhibition 

 Gallery of the British Museum cruciferarum is still wrongly called 

 xylostella.^ 



In the synonymy as given in Staudinger and Wocke's Catalog, 

 p. 281, No. 1626, will be found on lines 2 and 3— 



" maculipennis Curt ; Stph. p. 342 ; Wd. 1548 ;" 

 Dr. Wocke should have traced this synonym to its origin, for as 



cabinet. There is only one specimen labelled -'xyloBUaa, and )^^J^'''''^^^^^l^'^^;. p.ofessor 

 published works.— W. and D. 



