l894-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 28r 



Second. The/«/aofthe " Alucitina" "is smooth and rounded, 

 laterally solid, inner dissepiments 'flimsy." In the " Pteropho- 

 rina" the pupa " is less solid and rounded, appendages often par- 

 tially free." I submit we must have something more definite 

 than this for even specific separation ! " Less" and " often" are 

 not scientific distinctions. 



Third. In the Pterophorina the pupa "is attached by a cfe- 

 master." We are not told concerning the " Alucitina," but if 

 they have it not, the remarks under first item above apply. The 

 same method in the Geometrina would separate as distinct fami- 

 lies Aiiisopteryx pometaria Harr. and Paleacrita vernata Peck., 

 as the imago in the latter has a circle of hooks on each abdominal 

 segment. 



Fourth. ' ' Dehiscence from the pupa in one case is regular, in 

 the other irregular." Surely one is hard run for facts to use this 

 as a basis for family separation ! 



Fifth. Finally, in the "Alucitina" the free segments in both 

 sexes are the fifth and sixth abdominal. In the Pterophorina free 

 segments may extend upwards to the third abdominal; the yth 

 abdominal segment is always free in the male, fixed in the female." 

 That is, the Pterophorina have more free abdominal segments in 

 the pupa. This is uncertain, however, as it is guarded by a "may," 

 although there is a sharp distinction in the 7th segment. The 

 declaration is, there is more difference between the two sexes of 

 one family than between the two families, or to put it another 

 way, a difference which is variable and uncertain, is made a basis 

 for family distinction, while a wider permanent difference is ac- 

 knowledged to be a secondary sexual character in an immature 

 stage. 



We Americans are ready to take anything of any stage of ex- 

 istence as assisting in classification. We are willing to take any- 

 thing — artificial, Darwinian, or biological. We are willing to use 

 any light of any kind we can find, but we are still waiting for 

 light. 



Transactions of the American Entomological Society, vol. xxi, No. 

 4) now in press, will contain a "Catalogue of the Coleoptera common to 

 North America, northern Asia and Europe, with distribution and bibliog- 

 raphy, second edition, by John Hamilton, M.D." 



