183 



XV. On Wailengren's '' Lepidoptera Scandinaviae 

 Heterocera disposita et descripta." 



BY AUG. E, GROTE. 



The meritorious work of H. D. J. "Wallengren on Swedish Moths 

 (Lund, 1863), has not, as yet, received our attention. The first part 

 (Closterocera) is before us, and a brief I'eference to certain points 

 presented by it may be of interest. Following Dumeril and Bois- 

 duval, Wallengren assumes divisions higher than Families for the 

 Moths, but although their definitions are more extended, they are not 

 recommended to acceptation by any more important contradistinc- 

 tions than when first announced by the French Entomologists. And 

 although Wallengren says, " Closterocernes antennform skiljer dessa 

 fjiirilar genast fran alia Xematocera och Chetocera" (p. 4), he leaves 

 out of consideration the American Zygaenoid genera, certain of which 

 are not separable from Wallengren's Nematocera on antennal char- 

 acters. To his exception " Paranthrena," (properly written Paran- 

 threne, Hiibner, S. 128), must now also be added the Texan Setioid 

 genus Zenodoxus, G. and R. To the gradual modification of the 

 antennae throughout the Suborder (more perceivable, perhaps, in 

 our American fauna) is owing a gradual change in structure 

 which necessarily makes any Kepag classification unnatural and 

 impossible.' 



Wallengren retains the less compact Smerinthoid species in the 

 highest position among the Sphingidae. We object to this on the 

 ground that their Bombyciform analogies, unprismatic antennae 

 (g. Cressonia, etc.), and weak abdomen, are characters of inferiority. 

 The transformation of Haemorrhagia is more like that of the Hes- 

 peridae, and the diurnal flight of Hiibner's Bombyliae (Vulgares), is 

 a character entitling them to highest rank. The aborted maxillae 

 and nocturnal flight of Smerinthus are characters indicating a 



1 See the paper on Antennal Structure, read before the Portland Meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. 



