THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLVI.l FEBRUAEY, 1913. [No. 597 



FURTHER NOTES ON HESPERIID CLASSIFICATION. 

 By H. Rowland-Brown, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Concluded from p. 11.) 

 (Plate III.) 



When I drew up my table of the genus Hesperia (p. 11, antea), 

 I had not seen M. Charles Oberthiir's contribution on the sub- 

 ject to the ' Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes ' (December, 1912, 

 pp. 169-170). So far as it concerns this particular group, I 

 note that his conclusions take form and shape very much as I 

 present my own. He maintains H. alveus var. rijffelensis as a 

 separate species, and brackets H. hellieri with vav.foulqtiieri as 

 doubtful forms of the same species. But until we know more of 

 the comparative life-histories, the imaginal habits, and the 

 geographical distribution of the three it would be as well to 

 keep them under the several head-species suggested. Mean- 

 while, M. Oberthiir appeals to French naturalists to assist him 

 with facts, and we may hope that he will be successful, though, 

 judging from the paucity of notes on Lepidoptera in the 

 'Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes,' the number of workers, or at 

 all events of those who communicate their views and observa- 

 tions on the subject, is not particularly encouraging. I venture, 

 therefore, to supplement the appeal by a request to English 

 entomologists resident in Swizerland to co-operate with our 

 Swiss colleagues. Good life-histories of nearly all the Conti- 

 nental Hesperiidae are a desideratum. 



To resume the subject of the identification of the respective 

 imagos of the genus Hesperia, I have the permission of Prof. 

 J. L. Reverdin, Dr. Charles Blachier, and M. Marcel Rehfous 

 to reproduce for the readers of the ' Entomologist ' a plate 

 recently published in the ' Bulletin de la Soc. Lepid. de Geneve ' 

 (vol. ii. fasc. 3, pp. 171-172, July, 1912), which shows with 

 admirable clearness the most important distinctive characters 

 of the several species under review. I thank these gentlemen 

 most heartily for their generosity, and congratulate them at the 



ENTOM. — FEBRUARY, 1913. D 



