230 THE entomologist's record. 



Staudinger and Rebel's Catalogue.* 



At last the long-awaited "new edition" of this Catalogue has 

 appeared, and the stagnation of the last 80 years (as regards the bulk 

 of the continental European work in matters of classification and 

 nomenclature) is doomed to be rudely disturbed. At the close of his 

 preface Dr. Rebel is modestly content to claim that the new Catalogue, 

 as compared with that of 1871, may be regarded as " ein Hchritt nach 

 Vorwiirts," and he certainly would be one of the last to wish to have 

 it treated as a " ne plus ultra," although it is to be feared that, when 

 once it has found aceeptance in the entomological world, all correc- 

 tions will be ignored except by the comparative few — just as has been 

 the case with its precursors. Be this as it may, we hail the present 

 edition with profound satisfaction ; in how many ways it is an 

 enormous step in advance the following review will, it is hoped, 

 sufficiently show. 



In the matter of classification the system laid before us in the 

 present work cannot be regarded as more than a via media. Dr. Rebel, 

 in his preface, more than hints at the great difficulties which he and 

 his late colleague encountered in arriving at any understanding at all 

 on the subject — difficulties which at times threatened to wreck the 

 whole undertaking ; and, as Dr. Rebel had to make many concessions, 

 and even sacrifices, to the greater conservatism of Dr. Staudmger, it 

 need occasion no surprise that there still remains much room for pro- 

 gress in the classification from a biological standpoint. Let us hope 

 that so long a period as 30 years will not elapse between the appear- 

 ance of this catalogue and the next, and that Dr. Rebel will be spared 

 himself to participate in a further revision and rearrangement. On 

 p. xxxii there is a convenient " Uebersicht der Familienreihenfolge," 

 which facilitates comparison of the present system both with that of 

 the 1871 edition and also with Dr. Rebel's scheme published two 

 years ago. I The first thing that strikes one is that, notwithstanding 

 the decidedly-expressed opinion of the last-named, the domination of 

 the old and inaccurate conceptions of " Macrolepidoptera " and 

 " Microlepidoptera " is not yet brought to an end ; for, although the 

 terms are avoided, yet the contents of Theil I and Theil II respec- 

 tively show the influence of those conceptions, and the result is that 

 the sequence of families is less natural than that proposed in vol. xi 

 of the Iris. This, however, was the almost inevitable result of the 

 division of the work between the two collaborators, Dr. Staudinger 

 wishing to retain control of all those families which formed his share 

 of the 1871 catalogue — including such primitive forms as the llepia- 

 lidae (Theil I, Fam. 39). But its most regrettable result, perhaps, is 

 the almost pole-wide severance of the two recognised Psychid families 

 — the Psychidae, in Theil I, and the Taleporiidae, in Theil II. Dr. 

 Chapman's recently-renewed protests {antea, p. 180) are not uncalled- 



* '^ Catalog der Lepidopteren des palaearcthchen Fauneiujchietes" von Dr. 

 Phil. 0. Staudinger und Dr. Phil. H. KebeJ. Dritte Auflage des " Cataloges des 

 europaischen Faunengebietes." Berlin : R. Friedliinder uud Sohn. Mai, 1901. 



I. Theil: Fam. Fapilionidae-Hcpialidae, von Dr. 0. Staudinger und Dr. H. Eebel ; 



II. Theil: Fam. Pyralidae-Micropterygidae, von Dr. H. Rebel, xxxii -f- 41 1-f 368 pp. 

 in 8vo. 



I *' Ueber die geyenwartiycn Stand der Lepidopteren- Systematik" {Iris, xi., 

 pp. 377-391, February, 1899.) 



