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XXIV. On the genus Acentropus. By J. W. Dunning, 

 M.A., F.L.S., &c. 



[Read August 7th, 1878.] 



In the " Transactions" for 1872, the Society did me the 

 honour to publish a paper " On the genus Acentropus,'" in 

 which, after reviewing the arguments on the question 

 whether the genus was properly referred to the order 

 Lepidoptera, discussing its true position in that order, and 

 collecting the scattered observations on the habits of 

 Acentropus, I proceeded to consider how many known 

 species there were of the genus ; and the conclusion to 

 which my arguments tended was, that A. iiiveus, Hansoni, 

 Garnonsii, hadensis, germanicus, Neva, obscurus and 

 latipennis, were all referable to the same species. 



In the " Tijdschrift voor Entomologie" for 1876, p. 1, 

 Heer Ritsema, writing in June, 1875, whilst agreeing 

 that Garnonsii, badensis, germanicus, Neves, and obscurus 

 were not entitled to specific rank, and that A. latipennis 

 was identical with Zancle Hansoni, nevertheless thought 

 there were two distinct species, of which, whilst the males 

 were undistinguishable, one (^A. niveus, Oliv. = A. Gar- 

 nonsii, Curt.) has a female with rudimentary wings, and 

 the other {^A. latipennis, Mosch. = Zancle Hansoni, Ste.j 

 has a female with fully-developed wings. 



In the Proc. Ent. Soc. 1876, p. xxxii, I criticised the 

 reasoning upon which this conclusion Avas based, and 

 ventured to hazard a conjecture that if Kitsema would 

 persevere in breeding the insect he would obtain both 

 forms of female from larvre collected at the same sjiot. 



In the Tijd. v. Ent. for 1878 (pp. 81—114), liitsema 

 returns to the subject, and has now published a life-history 

 of Acentropus in its various transformations. In this 

 article the author abandons his former position, describes 

 and figures the fully-winged and the rudimentarily-winged 

 females as two forms of one and the same insect, and has 

 arrived by direct observation at the very conclusion to 

 Avliieh I had theoretically arrived in 1872. This memoir, 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1878. — PART IV. (T)EC.) 



