320 Mr. H. J. Elwes' notes on 



excepting that they were so mixed up in the Catalogue 

 and Collection in 1868. 



When all these questions of priority and identification 

 have been, it is hoped, for ever set at rest by the almost 

 universal acceptance of the nomenclature of Staudinger's 

 Catalogue, which, if not in all cases certainly correct, is 

 a most praiseworthy and careful attempt to settle these 

 difficult questions, I fail to see how Mr. Butler can 

 expect his nomenclature of Erebias, which, on the other 

 hand, has from the first been almost absolutely ignored, 

 to be now accepted. And if he does not expect this, 

 what can be the use of turning order into chaos, as he 

 has done here ? 



As an additional proof of his peculiar ideas, I will 

 give one instance only, that of E. Uqypona, Esp. This 

 is a species about which there can be no question. It 

 varies w^herever it is found, but none of the varieties are 

 known to be constant, or peculiar to one place, and 

 therefore I think none are deserving of even varietal 

 names. In the British Museum they are arranged as 

 follows : — 



E. manto, Denis. 



E. castor, Esp. 



E. castor, var. 



E. lappona, Esp. (In the Catalogue this is treated as 



a synonym of manto.) 

 E. pollux, Esp. 

 E. mantoides, Butl. (Merely a Lapland specimen of 



lappona, which can be exactly matched in the 



Alps.) 

 E. sthcnnijo, Grasl. (Merely an inconstant var. from 



the Pyrenees.) 



Thus making five species and two varieties out of one, 

 whilst he had just before united five species into one. 

 The result is that, so far as I have had occasion to 

 consult it, the value of Zeller's Collection is for the 

 time seriously impaired, and it would be better for 

 Science that it should not have come to the British 

 Museum in Mr. Butler's time, than that it should be the 

 means of confusing and misleading those who might wish 

 to obtain correct information on a subject which has 

 hitherto been too little studied by British entomologists. 

 It will be unnecessary for me to go in detail through 



