MEAGRE DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES, &c. 107 



Several males, taken In- Mr. P. Knetzinc; near Montrral, Canada, were, through liie goodness, added to my collection. 



It is evident that we have as yet but a limited ae(|naimance with the fauna of Canada and British Columbia, as is jiroven by the 

 many new and undeseribed species lately received therefrom; conspicuous in the East are the above described Sphinx and Hepialus 

 Thule, an<l in the West, Euleucophii-iis tri-coloi; Packard, and Henry Edwards' Smerinlhus Occiikntallt, a monstrous form of Moilestvs, 

 e.xpandinif nearly 6 inches, and of a very pale yelhjwish fawn-colour, much like in the Euro]>ean .V, Querctis. 



Macroglos.s.v ..Etjira, Kov. Sp. or Var. 



Female. Expands li inches. 



Above, head and body olivaceous of a paler yellow shade towards the sides; caudal brush yellow and lilack, beneath same a.s 

 Diffinix. Primaries, margin nnich broader than in Diffinii and serrated on inner eilge ; a large carmine apical spot; base and interior 

 margin reddish with olivaceous hairs on the former. Inferiors, narrow brown exterior nuirgin ; abdominal margin carmine; beneath, 

 costa of both wings red. Une example from Montreal, Canada; from Mr. P. Knetzing. 



If this be not a new sjiecies, it is certainly a most remarkable aberrant form of Diffiiiis; the total absence of the broad black trans- 

 verse band of upper side of abdomen is a mo.st noticeable feature, as well as the entirely red costa of all wings beneath. 



Hepialus Desolatus, Nov. Sp. 



Expands 2 inches. Brown, same shade as H. Syhinus, L., to which the whole insect bears a tolerable resemblance, but the lines, 

 etc., are better defined in the European species, than which ours is much more obscure ; on primaries the principal markings are a 

 narrow sub-basal band accompanied with a darker shade, midway between this and the outer margin, running from apex to interior 

 margin, is another paler line with its darker shade, from which at the inner margin emanates another short line which runs somewhat 

 diagonally towards the sub-basal line. Secondaries brown, with a few barely distinguishable paler spots on costa. One example taken 

 at Owen's Lake, Nevada, by one of the naturalists of Lieut. Wheeler's Expedition in 1871. 



Catocala Jocasta, Nov. Sp. 



Female. 1| inches. 



Head and thorax grey, abdomen yellowish-grey ; beneath, dirty white. Primaries grey, on costa signs of a transverse anterior line ; 

 reniform indicated by a few darker scales ; transverse posterior is not a line, but a broad shade ; beyond this, except a small intervening 

 space, the wing is darker ; fringes same colour. 



Secondarie.s yellow, with a broad black marginal band which is deeply indented on inner edge, towards the abdominal angle, 

 where it becomes much narrower ; fringes while. Under surface pale yellow, primaries with a broad marginal band, narrowest at inner 

 angle; a rather narrow median band which does not reach to inner margin; no traces of a sub-basal band whatever ; fringes grey. 

 Secondaries, marginal band as above, no mesial ; a few scattered scales on costa, and a few more where the discal luue ought to be ; 

 fringes white. 



A very curions and interesting species, evidently allied, notwithstanding the absence of the median band of secondaries, to Whit- 

 ney!, Dodge, and Myrrha, figured on Plate XI ; there are no distinct markings on the primaries, which are only clouded and have a 

 powdery appearance. One example received from Dr. \V. B. Carpenter, Kansas. 



PSEUDOHAZIS NfTTALU, NoV. Sjl. 



Male. Expands three inches. Head and b(jily ochrey yellow. Abdomen with very faint indications of a chain or row of con- 

 fluent dark rings, reaching from thorax to anal segment on each side. Primaries pale flesh-colonr. Secondaries same yellow as body; 

 all wings with a submarginal black band, narrower than in Eglanterina or Pica ; veins, from outer margin to this band, accompanied 

 with black, broad at margin, narrowing to a point as they near the transverse band ; a large black discal spot on all wings. 



Female larger than male. Primaries whitish-yellow, very pale. Secondaries ochrey yellow ; the same black ornamentation as 

 in male, but not near .so heavy. 



One tS' ''"<' ""* ? taken by Mr. Nuttall in 1836, at the Rocky Mountains, head of Snake River, and now in possession of 

 Mr. Titian R. Peale, who dedicated the species to its discoverer, in his MSS. description and unpublished plates. 



Difl'ers from all allied forms in the immaculate abdomen, which in all the other species is heavily ahnulated with black.- 



Harris' species, Hera, (described in Rejiort of Insects of Ma.ssachusetts, 1841, and figured in Audubon's "Birds of America," 

 T. 359) is nothing more than Eglanterina, Boisduval (Lep. Cal., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 51, 1852J. The examples oi Hera were taken 

 by Mr. Nuttall at the Rocky Mountains ; three of them were in collection of Mr. T. R. Peale, who received them from Mr. Nuttall 

 himself; one of these three, a rf^, Mr. Peale still has in excellent preservation, the other two were destroyed through .accident. Another 

 specimen was in collection of Mr. Doubleday, England ; this (jue w.as the original of Dr. Harris' description ; and two more are in my 

 cabinet. All these specimens cited were taken in ISSd by Mr. Nuttall. The species is also common in California; but, as a general 

 thing, these are not quite as heavily marked with black as those found in the Rocky Mountains. 



There is also much variation in the position of the black discal si)Ots ; in some examples these connect with the transverse band, 

 in others are verv close but disconnected, and in still others are far removed. 



Walker's species. Pica, (Britisli Mus., Cat. G, p. 1318, 1855) of which I possess one ^ example, taken by Mr.^ Drexeler in the 

 Rocky ilonntains, is a somewhat narrower- w-inged species, easily known by the uniform white ground colour of all wings. 



Dr. Leconte, in his paper on nomenclature already alluded to on page 102, in speaking of the binomial systeni, says: "The argu- 

 ments in favour of the original describer of the species on the one hand, and of the author of the binomial combination adopted on the 

 other hand, are equally strong, perhaps, as regards the convenience of science, and each side has been argued with the utmost ability ; 

 praclicallv, I do n(jt regard it as a matter of any conse(iuence, if each person will distinctly declare in his work toA/cA system he used. 

 The number of instances in which any confusion can result are few, and the synonymy in catalogues w-liich are ahvays at hand will at 

 once resolve the doubt." 



There can alisolutely be nothing said in favour of the autlior of the combination ; the specific name is the one by which we know 

 the insect. No one sjieaks of Vanei<sa Antiopa as Vanessa, but every one knows what insect is meant when we say Antiopa. 



In Cirote i Robinson's List Lep. N. Am., Boisduval's geniis, " Adelocephala," is coupled with Harris' species, " fticoior," and 

 Mr. Cirotes name placed behind the combination, thus, " Adelocephala bicolor, Grote ; " again, Hubner's genus, Anisota, and Abbot 

 t% Smith's species, Pellucida; are made Anisota Pellucida, Grote. The Cecropia of Linnajus, Mr. Grote has placed in his genus, Platysamia, 

 and transmogrified it into Platysamia Cecropia, Grote, and so on in this manner have the names of Linnaeus, Fabricius, Abbot c*i Smith, 

 Harris, Walker, etc.. been put aside to make place for the greater one of Grote. 



Were this method generally followed, the confusion consequent would be truly astounding; the dragon's teeth of Cadmus, or the 

 fecundity of the louse, would be" as nothing to the multiplicity of synonyms that would issue from each species. For instance, take 

 Catopeilia Argante : Fabricius first noticed this species in his Syst. Ent., and we cite him, in consequence, as the author ; gentlemen of 

 the above scliool would say Catopsilia Argante, Hubner, though "that author did not even place Argante in his genus Catopsilia, but in his 



