i83 



HUBNERIAN ! 



Bv )(>HN B. Smith. 



Hiibnerian and aiUi-Hiibnerian! These terms express the feeHngs 

 t)t" two camps into which Lepidopterists ha\'e long been divided, and 

 most of them adhere to one or the other of these views, without hav- 

 ing had an opportunity to fairly examine and judge. Between un- 

 (lualihed blame, and unqualified praise, students have been at a loss; 

 and with a feeling of uncertainty one student writes Agrotis, Hb. , while 

 another writes Agrofis, Tr. Hiibner's Coiti have become a bye-word, 

 and his "genera" have been abused up hill and down dale. Hut does 

 Hiibner deserve such treatment? 



Hiibner when he started, found the Lepidoptera in a decidedly 

 mixed condition, and being of a svstematic turn he began arranging 

 matters, and did a perfectly astounding amount of work in the way of 

 describing and figuring species, arranging them according to his own 

 views on the subject. In the ' ' Verzeichniss bekannter Schmetterlinge' ' 

 Augsburg, 1816, there is perhaps as good an opportunity of learning 

 what Hiibner's ideas on classification were, as in all his other works 

 combined. An abstract of some portions I give here. 



Primarily he divides the Lepidoptera into nine Phalanc.es which 

 he defines as follows, though in a different form : 



Antennae obviously clavate at tip; tontjue spiral; body short, wings large. 



I. Papiliones. 



Antenna- not clavate; witli leaf-like appendages to the joints; mouth and tongue 



prolonged, the latter spiral; primaries long, narrow; secondaries short, broad; 



body long and thick II. Si'Hincides. 



Antennae setaceous, but feathered; head small; tongue short and weak, palpi 

 sub-obsolete; legs small; body hairy .... III. Ph.\L/KN.k. 



Antenna? setaceous. 



Tongue moderate, strong; palpi ])rojecting into a blunt snout; collar and 

 pategia; large; thorax l)as;illy clothed with dense scaly hairs; wings fringed; 



legs spurred IV. Noctv.k. 



Tongue moderate hut soft; antennae delicate; palpi short; body smoothly 

 scaled; wings large; legs rather weak, but with long spurs: abdomen 



slender . V. Geometr.^':. 



Tongue moderate; eyes large; pnlpi long; wings large, but the primaries 

 longer than secondaries; legs, bui especially the tarsi, very long; abdomen 

 elongate, slender ........ VI. Pvk.vlides. 



Palpi short and broad; primaries short, narrow, ol)tuse; secondaries rather 



short; legs and abdomen short \'1I. Toktricks. 



Piilpi prominent; head tufted; wings peculiar in various ways. 



VIII. Tl.NE^. 



Wings divided; legs Icjug; abdomen long and slender X. Ai.rciT^.. 



