SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 221 



CIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Agrotis tritici var. subgothica, Haw., and Agrotis jaculifera, 

 Guen. — In Ent. Rec, i., p. lo, Mr. Butler's attention was drawn to an 

 error re the use of Agrotis subgothica. Haw. In Ent. Rec, i., p. 31, 

 Mr. Butler referred to Grote's Check List ?i% his authority. I pointed out 

 the error in the July number of the Canadian Entomologist, p. 159, 

 and Mr. Grote has now put matters straight by sinking subgothica, 

 Haw., altogether as an American species. In future the American 

 species will be called Jacu/i/era, Guen. {Canadian Entomologiit, xxiii., 

 p. 202). It will therefore be necessary for Mr. Butler to rename this 

 species in the Museum collection. — J. W. Tutt. 



Double Pupation. — I think I have before observed that this has 

 been noticed in several species of Bombyx. It is well known 

 to occur ui B. mori, the common silkworm moth, when, of course, the 

 cocoons are valueless for commercial purposes. Mr. Bond noticed 

 that in such cases, the sexes were male and female (a pigeon's pair). 

 Did Mr. Hewett examine his? — Sydney Webb, Maidstone House, 

 Dover. July, 1891. 



Generic Names in the Acronyctid^. — I am not now discussing 

 the theoretical 01 practical importance of the characters disclosed by 

 Dr. Chapman in this sub-family of the Owlet Moths, but I wish to draw 

 attention to the reason given for employing the new names. Dr. 

 Chapman says {Ent. Rec, Sept., p. 150): — "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." To 

 this I say that if every new meaning carries with it new names there 

 will be an end of stability in generic nomenclature. If new specific 

 characters are detected one would not rename the species, and the law 

 of priority is to be equally enforced as to genera. It admits of discus- 

 sion as to whether the characters disclosed by Dr. Chapman in his 

 painstaking studies are of practical value, or to be considered as the 

 exclusive basis of genera in the Acronyctid(B. I believe other groups of 

 moths may afford characters, by exclusive attention to which existing 

 classificatory arrangements might be altered. Did the new systematists 

 allow themselves to rename their new generic divisions by excluding all 

 older terms, we should be plunged into pitiable confusion. In this 

 genus Acro?iycta, or Apatela, as I prefer, following the law of priority, 

 to call it, I believe all the European groups are represented in North 

 America, where I have discovered Jochecera and Arciouiyscis. Other 

 groups, such as Merolonche and Eulonche, appear to be only North 

 American. Genera appear to me, as a rule, to be better founded upon 

 characters taken from the imago, although all the stages afford valuable 

 indications of the relationship between the species. — A. R. Grote, 

 Bremen. October 1st, 1891. 



Addition of Tortrix steineriana var. dohrniana to the British 

 List. — I find the species exhibited as Tortrix donelana at the Lanca- 

 shire Society's meeting is T. steineriana var. dohrniana, the pine-feeding 

 species allied to T. viburnana^ mentioned in the Ent. Record (i., p. 32). 

 Messrs. Adkin and C. G. Barrett each exhibited some bred, but apparently 



^ The correct spelling of this name is vibiirniana, Fab., Mantissa, ii., 229. — Ed. 



