X INTRODUCTION. 



" In the same volume there are at least as many names of a simi- 

 lar character in use in the other departments of Zoology ; and as 

 many of hoth kinds in the other two volumes of the work ; so that 

 from fifty to sixty generic names are ' doubly employed ' in the Noc- 

 laidae alone : — a practical example of showing his opinion of the 

 inferiority oi generic to specific names used ' homonymically ! ' What 

 notion can an individual obtain of the affinities, &c. of an insect by 

 calling it Brassicse ? Certainly none : but if he uses the double 

 name Pieris (or Mamestra) Brassier, he at once becomes acquainted 

 with its position, and recognizes its allies." 



" Perhaps some of the alterations cited above may arise from M. 

 Guenee not studying other branches of Zoology — the Nomenclature 

 of Agassiz would, however, have set him right — but that he 

 sometimes expressly changes the names of species the two following 

 references will sufficiently prove ; viz. : — 



Vol. i. p. 166. Calogramma picta, Guer. = Festiva, Don. 



'J'ai adopte le nom de M. Guerin, celui de Donovan etant 

 affecte, depuis longtemps, a une espece du genre Noctua.' 



(Kegardless of there being a Noctua picta, Fah.) 

 Id. p. 223. Celaena Herbimacula, Gu. = Celaena renigera, Step. 



' Je n'ai pu conserver son nom (renigera) qui designe depuis 

 longtemps une Agrotis bien connue.' 



" And at the end of the 3rd vol. p. 399 he inserts, by way of 

 'Errata' a list of 21 specific names ' doubly employed ' by him, 

 with the new names he proposes to substitute for them. Not- 

 withstanding these corrections others must be made by the followers 

 of his system — one instance will suffice to show this. Haworth has 

 described and Wood well-figured, a N. American species, Eraslria? 



