IV. 



various species should be known. While each admitted that " The Law of 

 Priority " was always binding, they denied its application in particular cases 

 for various reasons. Insufficient descriptions, bad figures, or other like 

 objections are enough for the rejection of any name; but when one rejects 

 what another accepts, we are landed at once in a maze of doubt and difficulty, 

 that is troublesome enough even to those that understand it, while to begin- 

 ners it is so perplexing that it is more likely to deter than to encourage. 

 Even this is not the worst, for those who have prepared the various synony- 

 mic catalogues have modified their views very considerably between the diff- 

 erent editions of their works. Doubleday's second edition of his Synonymic 

 List of British Lepidoptera is widely different from the first, both in nomen- 

 clature and arrangement. Staudingers Catalogue published in 1871 differs 

 very much from that of the first edition. Guenee, in the introduction to his 

 " Noctuelites," gave a list of the authors whose nomenclature he rejected and 

 his reasons for doing so. Others have accepted some of the nomenclature 

 thus rejected, and in turn have rejected others. All this has been done with 

 a view to the perfection of our lists, but it has only helped to increase the 

 confusion. From all this only one deliverance can be looked for. It is no 

 use an individual, particularly one unknown in the entomological world, 

 attempting to produce a catalogue that will be satisfactory to every one. The 

 leading Societies of the various countries where Entomology is largely fol- 

 lowed, must arrange for the preparation of one, which shall be finally binding 

 on every one, and whose nomenclature shall be subject to no further altera- 

 tion. For this we must wait and hope. In the meantime, the following list 

 of British species is submitted as an attempt to unravel the tangle and assist 

 beginners in this country. It contains 



1. The name of each species in ordinary use in Britain and the authority 



for it. 



2. The name or names that have been preferred by different writers, 



and the authority. 



3. The date at which each name was given, when there are more than one. 



4. The names given to varieties and the authority for them. 



5. A brief description of the difference between such variety and the type. 



No synonymy is given further than the above. The degree of authority to 

 be attached to each catalogue is open to diversity of opinion just as in all else 

 connected with nomenclature. The greater part of the changes recently made 

 by the German authors, are owing to the acceptance by them of Hufna- 

 gel's names, which are rejected by all other writers. They are to be found 

 in the second, third, and fourth volumes of the " Berlinisches Magazin, &c," 



