HESPERIOIDEA OF AMERICA 5 



study of these insects until 1893, when Watson published 6 his 

 "Proposed Classification of the Hesperiidae," which is prac- 

 tically the classification now in use. Watson divided the family 

 into three subfamilies, the Pyrrhopyginae, Hesperiinae and 

 Pamphilinae, equivalent to the Pyrrhopygini of Mabille and the 

 two tribes of Scudder. He further subdivided the Hesperiinae 

 into two groups and the Pamphilinae into three. Group C of 

 the Pamphilinae is wholly oriental and African. The others 

 correspond to the similar divisions of Scudder in part. As Wat- 

 son was working on the collection in the British Museum where 

 Megathymus was placed in the Heterocera, he merely mentioned 

 the genus to indicate that if placed in the Hesperiidae it would 

 form an additional subfamily. 



At this time Godman and Salvin had been publishing for six 

 years parts of the three volumes on Rhopalocera of the Biologia 

 Centrali-Americana. The first signature on the skippers ap- 

 peared a few months before Watson 7 s revision, but the work was 

 not completed until 1901. The subfamilies are those of Watson 

 and the Hesperiinae are divided as in his classification, but the 

 Pamphilinae, worked up by Godman after Salvin 's death, are 

 divided into eight groups. These are not wholly acceptable, but 

 they suggest an improvement over the two groups of other writ- 

 ers. The chief systematic interest of the Biologia. lies in the 

 number of genera described, the excellent plates, and the great 

 value of the work for specific identifications. 



But one other paper, Mabille 's monumental "Famille Hes- 

 peridae, ' ' 7 has been written on the Hesperioid fauna of the 

 world since the earliest times. In this work Mabille uses the 

 same arrangement as that of Watson, excepting the establish- 

 ment of the subfamily Ismeninae to take the place of Watson "s 

 Group C of the Pamphilinae, and the definite placing of Me- 

 gathymus in the subfamily Megathyminae. 



There remains to be mentioned Dyar's "Review of the Hes- 

 periidae of the United States." 8 This brief paper is the only 

 one ever published on the skippers of this country, and in spite 

 of omissions and commissions of an unusual nature it has filled a 



«Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1893, 3-132, pi. i-iii. 



7 Genera Insectorum xvu, 1903-4. 



8 Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc. xni, 111-141, 1905. 



