420 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Dec, '07 



pupa varies in color from pale amber to almost black. The 

 moths are not so variable as those of ridingsii; the yellow 

 area is seldom much clouded with dark scales, though varying 

 considerably in extent, and the dark markings are usually well 

 indicated, though showing considerable variation in intensity. 

 C. V. Riley has figured this insect in all its stages (Can. 

 Ent. VII, 207 and elsewhere). His account of the larval 

 habits is evidently based on observation of a later brood in 

 mature leaves ; and the cocoon-spinning habit, as described by 

 him, agrees more nearly with that of ridingsii than with scmi- 

 crocea, as the two species were observed together at Summer- 



ville, S. C. 



■ ♦ ■ 



Thecla calanus and Thecla edwardsii.* 



By Henry H. Lyman, M. A., Montreal. 



In the first annual address, which, as President of the En- 

 tomological Society of Ontario, I had the honor of delivering 

 in 1898, I ventured to say to the "lumpers" that "once a form 

 has been described as a new species it should not be lumped, 

 except upon overwhelming proof." To this doctrine the able 

 editor of Entomological News gave his adhesion in 1899, t 

 but seems to have withdrawn from this position in his article 

 on the above named species in Entomological News of Febru- 

 ary, as his "proof" of the identity of these forms is anything 

 but overwhelming. 



These unfortunate little butterflies have been more hardly 

 treated by the authorities than any other of their genus on 

 this continent, as anyone may see by a very slight examination 

 of the literature of the subject. 



Dr. Skinner changes the spelling of the second name to 

 edzvardsi, and though I am not one of those who would cling 

 to an original spelling where obviously wrong, I think that the 

 original form, when not wrong, should be adhered to. 



This species has universally been credited to Dr. Saunders, 

 which seems rather strange as no description was ever pub- 

 lished by him, and on the appearance of the description by 



* Read before Ent. Soc. Ont., at Guelph, July 4, 1907. 

 t Can. Ent., xxxi, 196. 



