ON THE AFFINITIES OF DEIIAS CORYLI. 



225 



not near enough to be placed in the same family. D. coryli, I should 

 certainly restore to its old place in the Liparidae, to which it is 



closer than to the Acronyctas But neither of these 



seems to me to be nearer to Acromjcta than is Arctia, or Liparis, 

 or OrtJiosia, or Xi/Iina, which appear to be perhaps the families 

 nearest to Acromjcta in difl'erent directions " [Entom. Becord, 

 vol. iii., p. 249). 



Dr. Chapman then gives {Ihid, pp. 249 — -201) a most exact and 

 scientific description of the egg, the neAvly-hatched larva, the larva 

 after each moult, and the pupa of D. coryli, annotating his descrip- 

 tion throughout by comparison with the Liparidae (or Lymantriidae, 

 as the American lepidopterists appear to call this family) . 



After thus exhaustively dealing with the structure of Deiaas in its 

 various stages, Dr. Chapman concludes : — " The larva of D. coryli 

 is clearly a Liparid, not therefore, perhaps, so very remote from 

 Acronycta, but still, distinctly a Bombyx (if that name still have a 

 definite collective meaning), and not a Noctua. The pupa of D. coryli 

 is not that of a Noctua, though the character of the anal armature 

 bears some resemblance to various Noctua forms " {Ent. Becord, 

 vol. iv., p. 97). The newly-hatched larva is excellently drawn and 

 figured on PI. ix., fig. 2, of the same magazine, where it is x 20 

 diameters, and where comparison can be made with the allied forms 

 figured on the same and the preceding plates, especially with the 

 Acronyctids, with Avhich it has been suggested to have certain 

 affinities. The pupa is also figured on the same Plate (fig. 5, pupa, 

 nat. size ; fig. 5a, showing dorsal view of armature ; fig. 5b, showing 

 ventral view of armature ; fig. 5c, showing lateral view of armature ; 

 the last three figs, x 15 diams.). 



We should surmise, from Mr. Dyar's silence thereon, that he is 

 entirely unacquainted with Dr. Chapman's writings on Demas^ coryli 

 in the earlier volumes of the Eat. Record, and that he has 

 not made himself conversant with the detailed account of the 

 species written by Dr. Chapman. If this be so we shall feel inclined 

 to retort that Mr. Dyar has been " premature " in his criticism of the 

 position which we took up when criticising the position assigned 

 by Prof. Smith to the genus in his recent list. It appeared evident 

 to us from this and other details that Prof. Smith was quite unacquainted 

 with Dr. Chapman's authoritative work on the alliances of certain 

 Noctuid species ; or, if he were, it surely is due to one of the foremost 

 of British lepidopterists, that Prof. Smith should give us some reason 

 for neglecting, in his recent Catalogue, the conclusions at which Dr. 

 Chapman has arrived. For the rest we are quite satisfied that the 

 latter will be able to maintain his position. His work is too 

 thoroughly done to tumble down at the first breath of straightfor- 

 ward and honest criticism. [We have forwarded a proof of this to 

 Dr. Chapman, and append his remarks. — Eu.] . 



The affixitiks of Demas corvli (by T. A. Chapman, M.D., 

 F.E.S.). — My examination of this species was entirely with reference 

 to its alliance with Arnmi/cta, and I had no hesitation in deciding 

 that it had no alliance with that family. To assert with any 

 confidence that it belonged to the Nocture or to the Liparid.e would 

 have involved a research into those families that I had not under- 

 taken. Still, I had little doubt it was rather a Liparid than a Noctuid, 



