148 



PSYCHE. 



[September 1S91. 



Ed. Eppelsheim, Mr. Edmund Reitter, and 

 Mr. J. Weise, each of whom is responsible 

 only for his own part, which is designated. 



In comparing it with the third edition of 

 1883, a vast number of changes in specific 

 names is notable, and many long familiar 

 ones have been relegated to synonymy. 

 Antiquity seems to have been extensively 

 ransacked, and many entombed names have 

 been stripped of their cerements and brought 

 to the light. How science is to be benefited 

 by all this is not evident, but if it has to be 

 done, the quicker the better. Had the code 

 of nomenclature adopted by the British asso- 

 ciation in 1842 and again in 1865, and by the 

 Association of American geologists and nat- 

 uralists in 1845, making the XII edition of 

 the Systema naturae (1766) of Linnaeus the 

 limit of time from beyond which no name 

 could be advanced, and according to which 

 the specific names in both the European and 

 American catalogues were first recorded, 

 much of this confusion could have been 

 avoided. But this being set aside, every one 

 is free to do as he pleases, and frequently the 

 brief and imperfect descriptions of the ante- 

 Linnaeans are made to apply in an imaginary 

 way to insects common and long known by 

 other names, which are at once dropped, and 

 the semi-imaginary ones substituted, to the 

 intense disgust of many who fail to perceive 

 how science is to be benefited. It is not 

 beyond hope that in time a limit in this 

 direction may be reached. A fire goes out 

 when the fuel is all consumed. 



This catalogue is of some interest to Amer- 

 ican coleopterists, as it advances many new 

 names for species common to the two hemis- 

 pheres, as for example : Our abundant Phi- 

 lojithus aeneus must hereafter be called 

 politus Linn., and our politus, fuscipennis 

 Mann.; Orphilus glabralus, a world-wide 

 name, must be replaced by niger Rossi ; 

 Nitidala bipustulata, by bifunctata Linn.; 

 Xestobium rnfo-villosum DeG., is to super- 

 sede tessellatum; and the imported elm-leaf 

 beetle, Galeruca xanthomelaena becomes 



luteola Mull, etc. Justice has been done Mr. 

 Say in placing his Phylethus bifasciatus in the 

 catalogue, but injustice in advancing Bru- 

 chus ir resect us Fahr. over his obsoletus. 



It evidently requires immense labor, 

 research, much entomological knowledge, 

 and calm, unbiased judgment to produce a 

 satisfactory work of this kind, and it can 

 scarcely be doubted the authors have fairly 

 succeeded. John Hamilton. 



TEMPERATURE EXPERIMENTS WITH 

 MOTHS. 



The Transactions of the Entomological 

 society of London for 1891, Part i, give some 

 recent experiments made by Mr. F. Merrifield 

 on two double-brooded species of Selenia. 

 We extract the following general conclusions. 



1. That both the marking and the color- 

 ing of the perfect insect may be materially 

 affected by the temperature to which the 

 pupa is exposed. 



2. That the markings are chiefly affected 

 by long-continued exposure, probably prev- 

 ious to the time when the insect has begun 

 to go through the changes between the central 

 inactive stage and emergence. 



3. That the coloring is chiefly affected 

 during the penultimate pupal stage, i. e., 

 before the coloring of the imago begins to 

 show. 



4. That a low temperature during this 

 penultimate state causes darkness, a high 

 temperature during the same period having 

 the opposite effect. 



5. That, in the species operated on, a dif- 

 ference between 8o° and 75 is sufficient to 

 produce the extreme variation in darkness 

 caused by temperature, a further lowering of 

 the temperature having no further effect on 

 it. . . . 



6. That in these species dryness or moist- 

 ure during the pupal period, whether during 

 a low temperature or a high one, has little 

 or no effect on the coloring of the imago. . . . 



