492 



PSYCHE. 



[July 1S93. 



ton saw close at hand a faded but otherwise 

 perfect female of Anosia plexippus in the 

 garden of Mr. William Brewster of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. It remained for some time 

 about the garden apparently searching for 

 the food plant. This must have been a 

 hibernator and it would seem scarcely possi- 

 ble that it could already have flown from so 

 great a distance as the extreme southern 

 states, but must have passed the winter in 

 some locality somewhat further north. It 

 will be recollected moreover that our last 

 -winter was unusually severe. 5. H. S. 



Atropharista jurinoides. — Professor 

 Townsend mistakes my note in Psyche. I did 

 not mean to criticize him for making a 

 synonym — my own house is too vitreous to 

 warrant the free use of such missiles. But he 

 should not be so reluctant to admit in type 

 what he does in I Uteris, that he had overlooked 

 Melanophrys. I was in error in regard to the 

 types: Mr. Aldrich tells me that the spe- 

 cimens in his collection which I examined 

 were ones that he had compared with the 

 types. All that I intended in the article re- 

 ferred to was a protest against the indis- 

 criminate use of some of the characters upon 

 which have been founded the hosts of new 

 genera in this family within the past three or 

 four years. 5. IV. Williston. 



Lawrence, Kansas, Mays, I §93- 



Note on Dr. Williston's Criticisms. — 

 In his article in the March, 1893, number 

 of Psyche, Professor Williston does me an 

 injustice. My recent table of tachinidae 

 contains all the genera in Brauer and von 

 Bergenstamm's part i, which are referred by 

 these authors to North America except several 

 which are neither figured nor recognizably 

 described, or else are insufficiently separated 

 from the older genera. None of those in part 

 ii are included, for the reason that not a 

 single one of them is figured, and most of 

 them are extremely difficult to recognize, 

 even with that patient study and ample mate- 

 rial commended by Professor Williston. I 



do not believe that, in the unbiased entomo- 

 logical mind, genera erected in such fashion 

 can stand. As to the figures that are pub- 

 lished, and those in part i only, they are 

 with almost no exception heads alone, excel- 

 lent certainly, but usually there is no clew in 

 the text to the venation. I contend that no 

 amount of patient study and ample material 

 is going to solve such problems satisfactorily. 

 I do not accept Professor Williston's proposi- 

 tion that "figures are usually more valuable 

 in this family than extended descriptions." 

 The best of figures are always more or less 

 misleading, and cannot be unflinchingly 

 relied upon. Full and complete descrip- 

 tions, conscientiously made, are of more 

 value than an}- number of figures, since they 

 contain information in such a form that it 

 cannot be perverted or misinterpreted, either 

 in the process of publication or afterwards. 

 As to "multiplication of genera," this is the 

 chief fault of the authors upheld, their next 

 fault being the insufficient characterization 

 of those multiplied. It is with the greatest 

 reluctance that I have again referred to the 

 work of these authors, in this particular. I 

 do not "sweepingly condemn" this work. I 

 have great faith in the validity of most of 

 the characters employed by them, though I 

 would not attach the same importance to all. 

 Their figures are unexcelled if equalled, so 

 far as they go. Their descriptions, not their 

 system, are splendid, so far as they go! 



C. H. Tyler Toivnsend. 

 Mar. 12, 1893. 



Entomological notes. — A notable con- 

 tribution to insect embryology by W. M. 

 Wheeler appears in the last number of the 

 Journal of morphology. The original por- 

 tions of it relate chiefly to Orthoptera and 

 indeed to Locustidae, but the author has in- 

 vestigated many other types including in all 

 some thirty species. Sixty-one figures on the 

 plates represent Xiphidium, Stagmomantis 

 and Gryllus. Seventeen figures in the text 

 are mostly diagrammatic". 



