THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ty-flve or thirty species, we should manifestly 

 then have a much smaller number of descrip- 

 tions to refer to. It must be confessed, how- 

 ever, that in many instances small genera, con- 

 taining but a very few species, are unnecessa- 

 rily cut up into a number of new genera each 

 containing but one or two species, while on the 

 other hand large unwieldy genera are rendered 

 still more unwieldy by amalgamating them 

 with other large genera. Usually this latter 

 process is had recourse to, because one or more 

 species are discovered, which form a sort of 

 transitional stage or intermediate grade between 

 the two large genera. Such species are gener- 

 ally called " aberrant;" and probably, if all the 

 species that ever existed in the world in all geo- 

 logical time were placed side by side, there 

 would be no two genera in Nature, that would 

 not then graduate into one another impercepti- 

 bly hy such aberrant forms. In such a case as 

 the above, therefore, instead of uniting two 

 large genera, and thereby making the rich 

 richer still, as by splitting up small genera the 

 poor are made poorer still, the appropriate 

 course seems to be indicated by Audubon and 

 Bachman in the following passage: 



In every department of Natui-al Ilislory, a 

 species is occasionally found which forms the 

 connecting link between two genera, rendering 

 it doubtful under which genus it should pro- 

 perly be arranged. Under such circumstances, 

 the Naturalist is obliged to ascertain, by careful 

 examination, the various predominating char- 

 acteristics, and finally place it under the genus 

 to which it bears the closest aflSnity in all its 

 details. — History N. A. Quadrupeds, Vol. 11, 

 page 21.5. 



Up to a comparatively recent date, the general 

 opinion has been that generic characters should 

 be founded exclusively upon structural peculi- 

 arities, and that color is not a generic but a spe- 

 cific distinction. It is now, however, beginning 

 to be recognized in science, that there are cer- 

 tain colors and colorational patterns peculiar 

 to almost every genus, and which are therefore 

 as truly generic chai'acters as the minutia; of 

 structure usually employed for that purpose. 

 Take, for example, a few of our largest and best 

 known genera of Butterflies. We shall find 

 that Argynnis is usually some shade of tawney- 

 red with zigzag lines running across its wings 

 in a very remarkable pattern ; while Ilippar- 

 cMa and its allies are brown with eye-like spots 

 transversing its wings near their tips; and 

 Colias ranges from white through sulphur-yel- 

 low to orange, with the tips of its wings black 

 and a small silvery spot in the middle of each 

 wing below. It is on this account, as well as 



for other reasons, that we believe those authors 

 to be in error, who have referred our N. A. 

 Cecropia and Promeihea moths and the Asiatic 

 Cynthia moth to three distinct genera; for in 

 all three may be found very nearly the same 

 coloi'ing and the same very peculiar colorational 

 pattern. 



To return to the questions asked by our cor- 

 respondent: The old and verj' extensive genus 

 Lytta has been very satisfactorily divided by 

 Dr. Le Conte into a number of new genera, 

 such as Sfacrobasis, Pomphopa;a, etc. If we 

 were writing a purely scientific Paper for the 

 Proceedings of some learned Society, we should 

 certainly name the insects specified by Mr. 

 Faulkner as Hpicauta vittata, Fabr., Macroba- 

 sis cinerea, Fabr., and Epicauta marginata, 

 Fabr., instead of referring them all three to the 

 old genus Lytta. But writing as we do for the 

 popular eye, and endeavoring to simplify as 

 much as possible that technical nomenclature, 

 wliich in spite of all the sauce we can serve it 

 up with is still so distasteful to many palates, 

 we have preferred to follow Dr. Harris's exam- 

 ple and use the more generally known gen- 

 eric appellation for all these three insects. 

 For similar reasons, Harris called the Striped 

 Cucumber Beetle Galeruca vittata, instead of 

 Diabrotica vittata, Galeruca being the old 

 genus, which included a great number of the 

 less extensive modern genera, such as Dia- 

 brotica. 



One word more and we have done with this 

 somewhat dry subject. It should never be for- 

 gotten that scientific nomenclature is a means 

 and not an end. It is necessary to be able to 

 name with accuracy and precision each organ- 

 ized being, before we can record any knowledge 

 that we may have acquired concerning it, or 

 understand such knowledge when recorded by 

 others. And as Law is said to be " the perfec- 

 tion of human reason," so Science may be per- 

 haps sufficiently well characterized as the per- 

 fection of human accuracy. But to learn by 

 rote the names of a great number of organisms, 

 without any intention of applying what we 

 have learned to any ulterior purpose, and with, 

 out troubling our head one particle about the 

 grand system upon which all scientific classifi- 

 cation is based; is about as unprofitable a task 

 as the human mind can be employed in. 



i^° Should a number of the Entomologist, 

 through whatever cause, fail to reach any of our 

 subscribers, wc will cheerfully send another one 

 upon being informed of the fact. 



