4464 THE ZooLocist—May, 1875. 
“Dr. Boisduval’s long-expected work on the Sphingide has at length 
appeared : it is illustrated by eleven excellent coloured plates; and if these 
had been published without the letterpress, Lepidopterists would have had 
cause to be grateful to the author; as it is, the work of this veteran ento- 
mologist contains so many errors and omissions, that it only obscures the 
subject which it should have assisted in illuminating. Not only has 
Dr. Boisduval, in the 380 pages devoted to this magnificent group, 
apparently taken no pains to ascertain what has been done by other 
workers during the last nineteen years (entirely overlooking even the 
Supplement to Mr. Walker’s Catalogue), but he has returned to the errors 
of Fabricius and his contemporaries, in his disregard of the law of priority : 
he calmly renames well-characterized genera and species, quoting the 
universally accepted names as synonyms, and gives no reason whatever 
for so doing; he constantly gives to his own MS. names preference to the 
descriptions of others; he quotes Catalogue lists of undescribed species, 
thus conveying to the mind of the unwary student the impression that his 
species have long been characterized; and in addition to all this he hope- 
lessly confounds together subfamilies and genera whose larve are utterly 
distinct. In proof of the recent publication of this work (dated 1874) I feel 
compelled to subjoin an extract from a letter which I recently received from 
the author, dated 18 Fevrier, 1875 :—‘ Le species des Sphingides, Sesiides 
et Castniides sera mis au vente Lundi prochain chez M. Roret editeur, 
Rue Hautefeuille a Paris.’” 
The Rey. R. P. Murray communicated the following remarks :— 
“The species of Terias forming the Hecabe group have long been a 
source of perplexity to me, and for some time I have entertained a suspicion 
that most of them were referable to but one species, T. Hecabe, Linn. 
T think I am now able to bring forward proof that T. Ausiope, Mén., at 
least, is only a form of Hecabe, and some evidence that the same is probably 
the case with T. Brenda, Doubl., Hew., and T. Sari, Horsf. I have 
frequently received from Mr. Miskin, of Brisbane, specimens of typical 
T. Hecabe from Rockhampton, and also others of 'T’. Ausiope from Brisbane, 
these forms being common in their respective localities, while it is by no 
means common to find them intermixed. So far the only evidence in 
favour of their forming but one species was afforded by the large number of 
specimens intermediate in character which came from Rockhampton. But 
TI now learn, by letters received from Mr. Miskin, that he has succeeded in 
breeding both forms from larve found on the same plant (Indigofera, sp.), 
and that he is now convinced that both forms belong to the same species. 
The curious distribution of the forms would tend to prove that the difference 
in markings is not sexual, but dependent on certain’ conditions as yet un- 
known to us. Both forms appear to be equally common in N.W. India, 
from whence I have received them in considerable numbers. 
