— 226 



"The King is dead ! Long live ihe King !"' canied hope and joy to 

 many licarts. Noc so, "The new species is dead ; long live the syno- 

 nym " pL'ihaps no feature of the study of entomology carries greater 

 terrors with it than does the mastery of the overburdened synonymy. 

 -Many a good student and capable naturalist has turned away from it all 

 in disgust and what has been the gain of some other science has been 

 our loss. All of which teaches the lesson that should be ever before us 

 — there are many writings of the Fadiers in Entomology to be searched 

 through, large public and private collections to be examined, and an 

 enormous mass of current literature to be mastered before it is sale to 

 s.iy that at present less than one half the species described in the last ten 

 years outside of Africa, are likely to maintain their specific validity, and 

 no inconsiderable portion of these new species are built on synomical 

 piles that are already reared nigh unto toppling. 



In closing I wish to stnte where the names of vanillcc and insukiris 

 are used herein, they are used in the sense employed by ^Ir. ^Maynard. 

 There is no doubt in my mind that it was the insular form, in an ex- 

 treme departure, that was originally used as the type of vaiiiUcB and it is 

 that which should be known as such. If it is thought best to separate 

 as a variety our North American continental extreme form, that should 

 be q'A\q(\ passiflorLe, as was done by Fabricius in 1793. 



FOOD-PLANTS OF LEPIDOPTERA, No. 12. 



(Samia Cynthia Dr.) 

 By William Beutenmuller. 



Rutacese. 



Ptelea trifoliata L. (Hop Tree). 

 Phellodendrc^n amurensis Rup. 



Ilicinese. 



Ilix opaca Ait. (American Holly). 



Simarubeae. 



Ailanthus glandulosus Desf. 



Magnoliaceas. 



Liriodendron tulipifera L. (Tulip Tree). 



Berberideae. 



Berberis vulgaris L. (Barberry). 



