318 Mr. W. Arnold Lewis on 
once to suggest a question: Is there anywhere in print a 
justification or explanation of this order of arrangement ? 
And as developments of this question, a few others: Has 
the group Nocturni ever had even characters assigned 
it? Has the position of the Geometrae and the Pseudo- 
Bombyces been ever explained? Is the arrangement of 
the Noctwce consonant with the position of that group ? 
Have the names Nocturni, Drepanule, Pseudo-Bombyces, 
as applied to these insects, any sanction? Upon these 
questions, and others which arise, I shall endeavour, in 
turn, to throw a little hight. 
It will, however, be best to observe here, that one 
aim I principally have in this paper, is to sift the history 
of the so-called group Pseudo-Bombyces ; against which 
I charge that it is not a group at ali; that if a group its 
position in the order is erroneous; that its name is 
wrong; and, that the group owes its creation to certain 
exigencies of a fortuitous kind. In particular, and 
finally, I charge as a grave offence to science, that no 
justification of the group, nor of its name or position, was 
ever offered by its authors, and that it has been intro- 
duced sub silentio in a mere labelling list. 
It is necessary to prepare the ground for our inquiry 
into the present arrangement of the Lepidoptera, by 
noticing briefly the system in use before its introduc- 
tion. ‘This can be done shortly, because I am primarily 
concerned with the order of arrangement alone; the 
points at which authors have drawn the line between 
group and group not being especially important at this 
stage; and the internal classification of each having 
nothing to do, at present, with the matter. 
The order of Linnmus is the basis of every system save 
the one I am to examine to-night; and, without any 
serious deviation, 1t was (so far as I am aware) followed 
by all the world until the year 1859, when this new 
order saw the light. The Linnzan divisions of the Lepi- 
doptera are familiar to everyone, but it is necessary 
to notice them here once for all. His three primary 
sections, then, are Papilio, Sphinx, and Phalena: and 
his divisions of the section Phalena (which correspond 
to our groups) are as follows: Ist, Attacus, and 2nd, 
Bombyx ; 3rd, Noctua; 4th, Geometra; 5th, Pyralis. 
Attacus bemg now classed as a part of Bombyx, and 
not interfering with the order in any way, it is accu- 
