— 120 — 



that if Walker's description was in anv way accurate, it could not pos- 

 sibly refer to this species, and in casting about for a species to which it 

 could possibl}'be referred, I picked out of our series oi Hyphaniria cunea, 

 specimens in everv wav agreeing with the description. So certain did I 

 feel of this, that I called Prof. Riley"s attention to it as a necessary cor- 

 rection of synonymy, and afterward stated the conclusion before the 

 Entomological St)ciety of Washington. 



Walker's description is as follows: "White. Tarsi with black 

 bands. r-'\ire coxae and fore femora luieous, with black spots on the 

 inner side, yl/rt/t? — Head and fore part of the thorax with a slight testa- 

 ceous tinge. Primaries with four very oblique, very imperfect and ir- 

 regular bands, composed of pale brown dots. Length of the body 6 to 

 7 lines ; of the wmgs i6 to 20 lines." 



In 1868 Grote and Robinson state that of three specimens in the 

 B. M. Collection one female was Spilosoma virginica, the other speci- 

 mens, male and (emale, representing a species approaching H. cunea in 

 markings, but stouter and with the antennas and palpi of Spilosoma. 



In 1875 J^^i"- Butler speaks as follows : "The only examples now 

 representing this species in the collection are what I believe to be a male 

 variety of H. cunea, and a female {Y) Spilosoma virginica, without ab- 

 domen ; what Mr. Walker may have done with ' the species since jNIr. 

 Grote described it, it is impossible to say." 



This note of Butler's seems to have entirely escaped American Lepi- 

 dopterists. Strecker did not refer to it in describing his anligone, and 

 Mr. Grote seemed not to know of it when in 1883 he referred anligone 

 as a synonym oi congrua. Mr. Hulst in his paper assumed the correct- 

 ness of Mr. Grote's identification o{ congrua, and shows that the species 

 varies sufficiently to include the form de>cribed by Mr. Strecker. No 

 attempt seems to have been made to reconcile Walker's description with 

 the species as identified by Mr. Grote, and in view of the facts that the 

 description cannot pos>ibly be made to fit <3'«/?^o«^ Strecker, that it agrees 

 perfectly with specimens of H. cunea, and that Mr. Butler finds a spe- 

 cimen o^ cunea as a type, it seems to me ihu congrua Walker, must be 

 referred as a synonym of ^. cunea Dru., and congrua \ Grote, must be 

 cited as a synonym oi anligone Strecker. 



Mr. Henry Edwards recently showed me in his collection a species 

 of Spilosotna apparently distinct from all described species, and which 

 agrees very well with Walker's description save in the maculation of the 

 abdomen. 



The genus Spilosoma needs revision, and as Mr. Edwards has all 

 the described as well as some new species, he will probably undertake 

 the task shortly. 



