T20 — 



Notes on American Lepidoptera» 

 By a. G. BiTLER, F. L. S., F. Z. S. 



We have received the following notes from Mr. A. G. Butler of the 

 British Museum. They are of very great interest to American students, 

 and we are heartily thankful to ^Ir. Butler for recording his observations 

 upon the Collections of American Lepidoptera under his care, 



" In the Zeller Cabinet I find six examples of a Lilhosid, which is the 

 same as Repa cafm, Walk., the first specimen in the series bearing a ticket 

 with the legend " Cleme7isia a/baia, Pack,', anil the fifih ' sennhme.'hr, Nord 

 America.' We have thus the fact of the identity of Walker's and Packard' 

 species made evident. Clvui a/d/'da, Walk., is .the small wither form 

 the same species. " 



In another letter jMr. Butler says : "I am arranging our speci 



AWa. In the Grote collection I find thrc3 specimens of a species Ir 



as AT mimiscula, Zeller, and a fourth of the same thing exactly labelled 



N. fuscula, Grote : other specimens labelled -^f, fuscnh difier in being a 



little darker or lighter, but with a le.^s brown tint ; the pattern in all is 



identical." 



<-»-=?> 



Myriopoda or Myriapoda ? 



This word, as stated by Dr. Underwood (on p. 6i) is differently 

 spelled by Zoologists. It was wnW^wBIyriafoda in the earlier editions of 

 my " Guide to the Study of Insects," but on looking into the derivation 

 of the word it seemed evident that the correct orthography was JMyrio- 

 poda; so at considerable expense the plates of that book were changed 

 and the spelling corrected. The word is derived from Myrios, thousand, 

 ■and. pons, podos, foot, hence the natural spelling is j\Iyrir>poda, rather 

 than Myrirtpoda. I have submitted the point to a well known Greek 

 scholar, and he agrees with this orth()gra|)hy. 



The word was spelled by Latreille Myriapoda and is so given in 

 Agassiz' Nomenclature, but even if the appellation of a class is not cor- 

 rectly spelled, whatever scruples we may feel at changing the c»riginal 

 spelling of a generic or specific name, the most extreme purist should 

 . not, I think, adhere to a wrong, or even slightly incorrect orthography 

 in any of the comparatively few class or ordinal names in Zoology. 



A. S. P.ACKARD. 



Columbia, O., June, 1887. 

 Editor E.vt. Am Dear Sir: — Would some reader of Ent. Am. be 

 kind enough to advise me through your valuable Journal, of a way to suc- 

 cessfully winter larvae of Caelodasys, Heterocampa, Cerura, &c. 



The larvx' of these moths complete their growth, change color and 

 construct their cocoons in. the Fall, but do not pupate until Spring. 

 I have found it very difficult to winter them. 



Yours respectfully. W. N. T.\i.i..\\r. 



