KUDRYAS STAE-J0UANNI8. 241) 



Eudpyas ^tae-Joharinis. 



By A. RADCLIFFE GROTf], A.3r. 



A little ontoniologieal mysteiy, not entirely unconnected with a 

 Britisli Museum label, lias at length passed into a stage wher« we may 

 hope that it may be entirely cleared up. In 1867, I examined the lato 

 ]\lr. Walker's tyjie of Endri/as Stae-JoJiannis, and recognised in 

 the sjiecimen a representative of a distinct s^iecies allied to our 

 common North American, E. grata, publishing m}^ conclusion, witli 

 other observations on the National Collection, in 1868.* In my 

 sxibsequent lists I recorded the species as distinct, surmising, from the 

 name, that the specimen had been taken on the St. John's River, Florida, 

 by Doubleday, whose American material was generally described, and 

 often redescribed, by Mr. Walker. The species remained undiscovered 

 by American collectors, and I may say unnoticed, until Mr. John B. 

 Smith visited the collection in 1891. The following year this author 

 jjublished a statement in the Canadian Entomologist, vol. xxiv., p. 183, 

 to the effect that Walker's type bore the label, " Taken on the Church 

 door at Hoi'sley Downs ; " and that : '' It is jn'obable that in some way 

 the pupa of the insect was transported to England, and through the 

 vicissitudes of the voyage, an alterration was produced." Mr. Smith, 

 further, has " no hesitation in referring the species (?), as a suffused 

 aberrant grata." From this, it is plain that a label, esj)ecially one in 

 the British Museum, is a sacred object in Mr. Smith's eyes, and, rather 

 than enquire as to its authenticity, he prefers to invent a theory to 

 cover up its improbability. Aside from this circumstance, Mr. Smith's 

 judgment, perhaps from unfamiliarity with this gToup of Ijcpidoptera, 

 is sadly at fault, since a letter from my Icind correspondent, Mr. William 

 Schaus of Ormonde Lodge, Twickenham, announces the discovery 

 of the mysterious species in Mexico I Mr. Schaus, well known from 

 his collections made in Mexico and South America, has seen a number 

 of specimens sent by a Mexican collector, so that the species is " beyond 

 doubt." With tliis discovery, my observations in '67 and '82 are vindicated, 

 and Mr. Smith's want of " hesitation " in 1891, is finally rebuked ; but 

 there still remains the mj^stery of tlie label. The '' vicissitudes of the 

 voyage " theory, is also consigned to that very extensive lumber-room, 

 from which it is in future only to be dragged to be laughed at ; for if 

 the insect made the voyage all by its little self, it stood it out bravely, 

 and remained true to its type until it reached the hands of Mr. Walker — 

 perliaps the most perilous incident in its travels. But did it make the 

 vo3'age at all in a live condition — as moth, as pupa, or as larva? My 

 kind friend, Mr. J. W. Tutt, has been at some pains to set me right, 

 and the label as well, in regard to the church door at '' Horsley 

 Downs," and the result is noted by me in the Canadian Entontoloijist 

 for 1893, p. 319. It is a dreadful thing to suggest, l)ut perhaps the label 

 is Avi-ong or ^^Tongly placed, and was intended for another insect. I 

 have been bold enough to offer proof that this has elsewhere occurred in 

 the collection of Lepidoptera in tlie Hritish Museum ; in particidar,that the 

 specimen shown as the type of Mr. Walker's Acronycta cristij'era, is really 

 his American type of Mamestra brassicac, erroneously identified by this 



* Also in 1882, see my 111. Ess., p. 42 ; my statement in this latter work is 

 the one apjiarentlj- intended to be contradicted by 3Ir. Smitli. 



