SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. l7 



avoid what is a distressing change, by assuming that the ftdrai/d of 

 the Tcntaiiicii was fidrai/d, L. { = (rra(i(i, F.) ; but Mr. L. B. Prout 

 writes me that this assumption cannot be accepted in the face of the 

 fact that the Linnean name oifnlrai/i> iovccrai/o was not at all employed 

 in Germany till comparatively (juite recently. For the palcacca of 

 Esper, the fidrai/d of Schili'ermiiiler, we must use Xiotthia, Hiibn., 

 Tciitaitioi, 1H06. Thus Knaniia, Hiibn., Vii^riclniiss, 285, falls before 

 Xantliia. Hiibner himself identifies tSchitfermiiller's fidrat/o with 

 IHilcarca in the Vfrzcic/ntiss, and there seems no possible doubt that the 

 Tciitaiiicn names are used in the sense in which they were employed 

 by Schiliermiiller. In the Vt'r-cichjiias, 234, we first have the term 

 L'irr/ii'a for citrai/o, L., and fidnKjo, Linn. (= .sidp/iurai/d, Schifl". = 

 iH-hrafid, Esper). This latter identification is now considered erroneous, 

 and the insect is sidphnrat/d, Fab., a species I have not been able to 

 examine. Mr. J. W. Tutt kindly writes me that he has separated 

 citraijd generically from the old genus '■^ XaiitJua '' under the name 

 TiUari'a. If Cirrliia has been previously used by any author since 

 Hiibner, for citrof/d alone, then ritiai/d becomes thereby the type of 

 ( 'irrhia. Or if, again, sidpJiuraifd is not generically distinct, or belongs 

 to some iin-ridiisli/ named genus, leaving citra<id for Cirr/iia, then 

 TiUacea would fall. If mlpliurcKju is a " Xaiithia,'' which, from what I 

 can learn, I doubt, then it might become the type of the genus for 

 Avhich ('irrhia would be retained. At present we have Tilia<r<( citrai/d 

 and Cirrliia suljduiraiid, an unknown quantity. In ascertaining the 

 type of a genus, a knowledge of the literature a)id a knowledge of 

 structure must go hand in hand and work together. Either failing, 

 the facit is unreliable. After ( 'irrhia we come to Citria, rV/'cr'/rA;;m, 

 284, — rcrai/d, Schifi'., and silaiid, Hiibn. = jiaraiio, Fabr. = tai/ata, Esp. 

 This seems, then, the earliest term for what we have been calling 

 " Xaiithia." I would propose, then, to call the genus, (Jitria, with 

 tiaraijd, Fabr., as type, a species found in North America as well, the 

 choice being open. We then come to Mcllinia, Veri., 235, for 

 pallcaiid — iiilvaijd var. and drdlaris, Borkh. If these two (or perhaps 

 only one) species are generically identical with Citria fiaca<id, the term 

 will, of course, fall. — A. R. CIroti:, M.A., Hildesheim. April, 1896. 

 Tabulated, these results of Professor Grote give the following- 

 changes in the British List : — 



Citria, Hb. Mellinia, Hb. 



flavago, Fab. gilvago, Esp. 



fulvago, Linn. | ocellaris, Bkh. 



Tiliacea, Tutt. | circellaris, Hufn. 



citrago, Linn. Xanthia, Hb. 



? aurago. Fab. paleacea, Esp. 



We have no hesitation in asserting that the insects at present 

 included in the genus Xanthia belong to at least three distinct 

 genera. Whether anrai/d belongs Avith citrai/d or not there is at present 

 insufficient evidence to decide, but the little that is known would 

 suggest that its affinities are rather with Tiliacea than with the other 

 genera. — J. W. Tutt. 



Distribution of Tortrix vibukniana. — My friend, Mr. .J. E. Robson, 

 is in error in stating {ante, p. 2G6) that Tartri.r ribumiuna is "only 

 found on Northern moors," for it is very abundant on the extensive 

 tracts of moorland in this part of the South Coast : the larvfe are 

 plentiful on Mi/rica [/ale, as well as other plants, and in 1894 I found 



