—86— 



brown, with two blackish dots. Secondaries brighter red, with three 

 black dots, two in disk, and one near hind border towards inner angle. 

 Length of body 6 lines, of wings i6 lines. P'ar. — Primaries almost 

 wholly brown. Secondaries with broad blackish submarginal stripe. 

 United States." 



Now my moth answers in every detail to first description, except 

 that it is a female and larger, being more than i8 lines in extent. The 

 dots are obscure, but their traces may be seen. In "Notes of N. Am. 

 Lepidoptera in B. Mus. and described by Walker," Grote and Robinson 

 (Trans. Am. Enio. Soc. , Vol. II, p. 72) I find the following allusion to 

 the moth in question. 



"P. assimilans. The two specimens (a. b. ) dififer from rubricosa 

 and fuliginosa, by their greater expanse and differently shaped primaries. 

 These are more produced at apices, below which the extreme margin is 

 sinuate, not rounded. We have seen no specimens of this species in 

 any collection in United States." 



Mr. Hy. Edwards, in a brief note made on a visit to British Museum 

 in 1888, says of the types : " Looks like a large specimen of rubricosa, 

 but one example has no spots." 



I have shown my moth to Mr. Edwards, who agrees with me, that 

 it is Walker's species, but thinks it should be placed in a different genus 

 from rubricosa, perhaps Aniarciia. This I am not competent to decide, 

 and shall leave to wi>er heads. 



We noticed recently in some German periodical, a method of re- 

 laxing Lepidoptera that might merit trial. The writer used a shallow 

 vessel with a tight fitting lid, covered the bottom with alcohol sufficient 

 to float the cork containing his specimens and left them for a time. It 

 is asserted that they relax rapidly and very completely, that the colors of 

 even the most delicate species is absolutely unaffected -that specimens 

 never become wet, dirty, or mouldy, and that while the relaxation is 

 very complete the setting takes place very quickly and firmly, and the 

 specimens can be removed, much sooner than if relaxed by moisture 

 derived from water. The current methods leave something to be de- 

 sired, and perhaps this will fill the "long felt want." 



* 

 By the time this number reaches our readers, Lachnosterna will be 

 on the wing. Will not all Coleopterists collect them largely this season, 

 and send us lists of their captures } If there be a question of identifi- 

 cation, we shall be glad to attend to that. 



