158 Miscellaneous. 



and the numerous tables of genera and species will be very useful. 

 We are glad to see, too, that transformations are described in the case 

 of the comparatively few species in which tbey are known. We 

 may mention that the excellent (and, in the present volume, 

 crowded) coloured plates are by Mr. Horace Knight. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the ' AnJcilndung eines system atische a We rices von den Sclimetter- 

 lingen der Wienergegend' of Svhiffermuller and Denis. By Louis 

 B. Proux, F.E.S. 



The well-known ' System atisches Verzeichniss der Schmetterlinge 

 der Wienergegend ' by the above-named authors is invariably cited 

 by modern writers as dating from 1776, and I am not aware that 

 that date has ever been challenged. I have, however, for some 

 years past, been acquainted with a copy of the same work uuder a 

 different title, bearing date 1775, and have been somewhat puzzled 

 by it ; but as my studies have not hitherto necessitated a critical 

 investigation of the work, I have not until quite recently taken up 

 the question seriously. In doing so, however, I find sufficient 

 evidence to be worthy of publication, and by the advice of 

 Mr. John Hartley Durrant. with whom I have been in corre- 

 spondence on the subject, I have prepared the following notes. 



In the library of the British Museum (Bloomsbury) is the copy 

 which first arrested my attention, coming from the library of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, and quite accurately catalogued by Dryander in 

 ' Bibl. Banks.' ii. p. 254. The title reads " Ankiindung | eines | 

 systematischen Werkes | von den Schmetterlingen | der Wiener- 

 gegend | herausgegeben | von einigen Lehrern | am k. k. Theresi- 

 anum. | Wien, | verlcgts Augustin Bernardi Buchhaudler. 1775.'* 

 Another copy, identical with this, was acquired by Smith in 1784 

 from Linne's library, and is, of course, preserved by the Linnean 

 Society ; this latter is of considerable interest, as it is still in the 

 original boards, while that at Bloomsbury has been re-bound, and 

 lettered on the back " Ankiindigung eines Werkes von den Schmet- 

 terlingen der AVienergegend. Wien. 1775." With the exception of 

 the titlepage and the frontispiece, this early issue is identical with 

 the well-known ' Systematisches Verzeichniss' of 1776, so that, as 

 Mr. Sherborn says (in litt., 13th Feb. 1900), " there was only oue 

 printing of the body of the work — the same broken letters occur in 

 every copy." Mr. Sherborn further writes : — "Note that the 1775 

 T.P. is a ' woodblock,' not type set, and the 1776 T.P. is engraved on 

 copper." The frontispiece and plates are coloured, but the former is 

 arranged as in the uncoloured 1776 copies. A third issue (1776 also) 

 has coloured plates, but the frontispiece is somewhat differently 

 designed. I have seen no copy of the ' Ankiindung ' excepting the 

 two above mentioned, but the following bibliographical references 

 deal with it. 



Mr. Durrant called my attention to the fact that Eiselt, ' Ges, 

 Syst. Lit. Ins.' 203 (1836), and Percheron, ii. 39-10 (1837), both 



