PLATYSAMIA GLOVERI. 



Secoiiclaries!. Color (^amc :i.s in primaries ; ornamentation same as in male, except tlie 

 discal spot whidi is double the size. 



ITnder surface marked same as the uj^iier ; coloration same as in under surface of male. 



Habitat. Arizona. 



This species I have named in honor of tiiat most indefatigable of all hard working 

 naturalists, Prof. Townend Glover, of Washington, D. C, who first showed me examples of 

 it, which were said to have come from lower California, but as I>. Wcidemcycrii, Parn, 

 Smintheus, and other northern Montane species Mere sent along in comjiany with it, I ex- 

 pressed ray doubts regarding tiiat locality, which have since been confirmed by my receiving 

 a ti'inalo examj)le from Arizona. 



Of the distinctness of this species from P. Euryale, Boisd., (P. Californica Grote,) and 

 P. Cecropia, there cannot lie a particle of doubt, but what relation it may Iwar to P. Columbia, 

 Smith, I am unable to say, (though the wide difference in locality convinces me they are dis- 

 tinct,) as I believe no figure has yet been ]iublished of the latter species, aud Prof. 8. J. Smith's 

 types arc all contained in some institutiou in Massachusetts, and the species must consequently 

 remain a blank to the scientific Morld, until some one gives a figure of it. Apropos to this giv- 

 ing descriptions without figures, 1 may say that we Americans certainly occupy a most unenvia- 

 Idc pre-eminence ; if we had more figures and fewer descriptions there would be, I have little 

 doubt, more satisfaction and considerably less confusion among scientists. The idea of ex- 

 pecting anything short of the supernatural to identify a Lycfcna, Hesperia, or any of the smaller 

 noctuidas Iiy a mere description, is jireposterous. A\'hy, even larger species cannot thus be 

 identified. I would like to see the Entomologist who could, by any description, identify or 

 separate from each other Vanessa Polychloros, Californica, Xanthomelas, and Ichnusa — ^yet 

 althougii probably sprung from the same root, they are different in ajijiearance when placed 

 side by side, and exist in localities widely I'cmote trom each other. I would say the same of 

 A'an. J. Album and V. Album, or of many of the Coliades. Many and many a time have I, 

 wlien a whole evening was wasted, trying with aching head to find out Avhether some little 

 butterfly was something or something else, consigned the discoverer of the species in question 

 to all kinds of unspeakable torments. Here is a sample of the result of this state of affair.?, 

 as shown by the latest synopsis of North American Butterflies, by W. H. Edwards : Thecla 

 Humuli, Harris, is Melinus, Hub., Favonius, Bois. & Lcc., and Hyperici, Bois. & Lee, 

 T. Edwardsii, Saunders is Falacer, Harris and Calanus, Grote & Robinson, while Calanus, 

 Hub., is Falacer, Godt. T. Yiridis, Edwards, is Dumctorum, Boisd. T. Henrici, Grote, is 

 Arsace, Boise & IjQC. Lyca-na Anna, Edwards, is Cajona, Rcakirt, Argyrotoxus, Behr, and 

 Philemon, Boisd. 



The female of Colias Eurydice has been in its time Gonepteryx Rhamni, Gonepteryx 

 Ijorcjuinii, and lastly Megonostoma Helena, Male ! and if the brilliant colored male had not 

 been at last coupled to his plaiu spouse, heaven knows what she would not have been. I 

 might go on multiplying instances ad libitum, but until the descriptions of species are accom- 

 panied by correct figures, every new s])ecies described will but add to confusion confounded. 



