150 THE ENTOMOLOGISTS RECORD. 



fgjCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Generic nomenclature and the Acronvctid^. — I had not 

 intended to return to this subject until I had finished the histories 

 of the individual species, but as it has got undei full discussion, it 

 appears necessary that I should make some remarks. In the first 

 place, it is hinted that I have annoyed Mr. Butler. I hope this is not 

 so, and write to make every apology if such is the case, as nothing 

 was further from my intention than to say anything that could be 

 personally offensive or annoying to Mr. Butler. My only object was 

 to point out that the conclusions he had formulated as to Acronycta 

 were erroneous, being founded on superficial characters of one state 

 only of the insects, and that, the one in which they are most variable 

 and therefore the one least useful for furnishing generic characters, 

 still less characters for division into families ; but if I have failed 

 to do this without offending the author, I owe him an apology, 

 even if tenderness on his side is as much to blame as roughness on 

 mine. 



As to the names, my difficulty was that none of the many names 

 that have been heaped up as subgenera in this genus admitted of 

 the meanings I wanted. I have pointed out in the case of Cuspidia 

 that it may be desirable to subdivide this section further, in which 

 case TricEfta, say, would be available for psi and tfideiis, Hyboma for 

 strigosa, lochceara for alni, and so on. Whereas, to adopt any of 

 these names for Cuspidia would altogether obscure the main fact I 

 wish to bring out, that all these belong to a division of the genus, 

 all closely allied when compared with Viminia or Bisidcia. Similarly, 

 with regard to Viminia, I have placed Arsilonche venosa in this 

 section, it is indeed a twin with rut?iicis much as psi is with tridens, 

 in spite of the very different facies of the perfect insect. But also, 

 though I have had no opportunity of fully studying them, I have 

 little doubt that Simyra nervosa and Clidia geographica belong to 

 Viminia; that is, they are more closely allied to auriconia, etc., 

 than any of these Viminia are to Cuspidia. Still, they differ so far 

 from our British Viminia that their present generic names must be 

 retained as subgenera of Viminia. I want names to have these 

 values, and if anyone will show that any pre-existing names are 

 available to do so, without confusion or violence to their present 

 meanings, 1 will gladly agree to them. I am concerned that these 

 relationships between the species should, in some way, be indicated, 

 that they should be indicated by my names is a matter of indifference. 

 — T. A. Chapman, Firbank, Hereford. 



The Male Genitalia. — Under the title of "The male Genitalia 

 and the subdivisions of Agrotis" Mr. A. R. Grote, A.M., Bremen, 

 Germany, writes : — " It is forty years ago since Lederer used the male 

 genitalia to group the European species of Agrotis. According to the 

 latest general work on the subject, the 127 European species oi Agrotis 

 fall into nine groups, characterised chiefly by changes in the form of 

 the male genitalic appendages. The failure to correlate these 

 European groups with the American subdivisions of Agrotis, prevents 

 me from considering Professor Smith's recent revision as complete, 



