" Trir,hoj)tp.ry(jia lllvdratn." 3 



Schaum Avas qualified to judge of the descriptions or diagnostic 

 characters of a Trichopteryx may be gathered from his own 

 words, words spoken at the time when he presented to me the 

 collection of his American Trichopterygia. I had asked his 

 assistance in determining their species, and in reply he said 

 " I must leave them entirely to you, for I knoiv nothing what- 

 ever of that class." These were the very words of my esteemed 

 friend, and uttered on such an occasion M^ere indelibly fixed on 

 my mind. 



But I have never found fault with Gillmeister's specific 

 descriptions, as far as they go they are correct and good ; 

 no amount of excellence in specific descriptions can however in 

 any way atone for a reckless disregard of the commonest rules of 

 nomenclature. Dr. Gillmeister was well aware that M. Allibert 

 had already published descriptions of a great majority of the 

 very species on which he was himself engaged, and he must also 

 have known that M. Allibert's names had been accepted by the 

 Entomologists of France, at all times an important part of the 

 scientific world ; if he considered M. Allibert's descriptions 

 insufficient, he might, as I did, without difficidty have obtained 

 an examination of the type specimens, but he adopted the read- 

 iest method of avoiding trouble, ignored the work of M. Allibert, 

 and either substituted fresh names for his species, or quoted 

 their names as synonyms of species to which they did not refer. 



The manner in which he treated Dr. Aube was ecj^ually 

 inexcusable. Dr. Aube with his usual kindness had forwarded 

 type-specimens of all the species contained in his fine collection 

 to assist Dr. Gillmeister in his work ; they were subsequently 

 returned to Dr. Aube in a very unsatisfactory condition ; to such 

 species as Dr. Gillmeister had recognized he had attached labels, 

 those which he did not know he had left unnoticed. It may be 

 thought that I am making a bold assertion, but if the collection 

 of Dr. Aube still exists, anyone who will examine it may con- 

 vince himself of the fact. For in that collection he will find 

 two examples of one of the most distinct and most striking 

 species of the whole family, viz, Smicrus filicornis, labelled as 

 having been sent to Dr. Gillmeister, and returned without 

 remark. There may be others found in a similar condition, 

 though, as it is a long time since I have seen the collection, T 



J5 2 



