62 



L. Agassiz, and which contains a few notes in his hand, not 

 changed the name of C. quadricornis. He has changed his vS. 

 Carolina to qiiinqitemacnlata and says of G. cpimenis, that " it is 

 probably a species of Brepha." Therefore, C. quadricornis has to 

 be retained, as Huebner had nothing in any way to do with this 

 species. 



Of Sphinx cinerea Huebner, Vol. H., gives only a figure with 

 the name Lcthia chersis,no\. even the locality. Therefore, Harris' 

 name has to be restored. 



Of neither of these species is any description whatsoever 

 given by Huebner. In his Verzeich., 1815, L. chcrsis is not men- 

 tioned, therefore, the plate must have been published after this 

 year.* 



THE CAPITALIZING OF SPECIFIC NAMES. 

 To the Editor of " Papilio :" 



Can the editor of " Papilio" inform me upon what ground 

 and for what purpose American 'lepidopterists have recently 

 adopted the vicious habit of capitalizing the specific names of 

 their insects? The tendency among entomologists, generally, 

 has been in the other direction of using a lower case letter, even 

 when the species is named after some individual or, in other re- 

 spects, may be looked upon as a proper name. The prime ob- 

 ject of nomenclature being to facilitate study and thought, this 

 last fashion has everything in its favor. The capitalizing of spec- 

 fic names is almost as bad and fully as unnecessary and confusing 

 as the use of the lower-case letters which has come into vogue 

 among some catalogues. I am led to ask the question upon 

 reading recent articles by Mr. A. R. Grote, in which generic and 

 specific names are often used singly and in each case capitalized, 

 so that none but those few who are entirely familiar with the 

 terms can know whether genera or species are referred to, except 

 by guessing or laborious reference. If there can be any sound 

 defence of the custom I should like to know of it. 



C. V. Riley, Washington, D. C. 



CONCERNING SO-CALLED TEMPERATURE FORMS 

 OF BUTTERFLIES. 



By Arthur G. Butler, F. L. S., F. Z. S. 



I have read with much interest a paper by Dr. Hagen, '' On 

 Papilio machaon L., and its North American representatives, etc." 

 and, considered from a Darwinian point of view, it is undoubtedly 



* Since writing this paper I have learned from a correspondent in Europe that in Senator von 

 Heyden's copy of Huebner, received by him from Geyer himself, this plate is markt-d " published i8-j8 

 byGeyer. H. A. H. 



