CHAPTER IV 



BOOKS ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN MOTHS 



THE literature of our subject is quite extensive, and the 

 most important portions of it are contained in the publications of 

 various learned societies and institutions. 



The first references to the subject are found in the writings 

 of Linnaeus, Johanssen, Clerck, Fabricius, Cramer, Hubner, Geyer, 

 Drury and John Abbot. The works of Clerck, Cramer, Hubner, 

 Geyer and Drury are all illustrated, and contain figures of many 

 of the more showy North American species. Abbot and Smith's 

 "Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia" gives figures of a 

 number of moths, with their larvae and food-plants. 



In 1841 the work of Dr. Thaddeus William Harris, entitled 

 "A Report on the Insects of Massachusetts which are Injurious 

 to Vegetation," was published. This was followed in 1852 by 

 the work of A. Guenee on the Noctuelites, the Deltoides, and 

 the Pyralites, constituting Volumes V.-VIII. of the "Species 

 General des Lepidopteres," forming a portion of the "Suites a 

 Buffon." Many North American species were here described 

 for the first time, and some of them were figured in the Atlas of 

 Plates accompanying the work. In 1850 G. A. W. Herrich- 

 Schaeffer of Ratisbon began the publication of his " Sammlung 

 Neuer oder Wenig Bekannter Aussereuropaischer Schmetter- 

 linge," which, appearing in parts, was not completed until 1869. 

 Good figures of a number of North American moths are con- 

 tained in this important volume. In 1854 Francis Walker began 

 the publication under the authority of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum of his "List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects 

 in the Collection of the British Museum." This work, which 

 finally grew to thirty-five volumes, the last of which appeared 



