BULLETIN OF THE BROOKLYN ENT. 800. 3 



It is likely that, hereafter, very few new species will be found 

 north of Mexico. The east and north have been thoroughly ex- 

 plored; and Florida, Colorado, Texas, and the Pacific coast have, 

 during the last three or four years, been very extensively collected 

 over both by amateurs and professionals. 



Very large amounts of material have thus been gathered from all 

 parts of the country, and very large opportunity is given to ascer- 

 tain, by comparison, what forms are varietal or specific, and what are 

 the limitations, distant or near, of each. 



Final determination can not be made, till much more is known 

 than at present, especially of larval history. "We are not aware 

 that the history of a single American Catocala has been fully written. 

 "We know the mature form of the larvae of a few, but nothing is known 

 of their history, except that the larva?, in part at least, hibernate. 



It is possible, however, that the knowledge of the larval history 

 may not be of much help to us in determination ; for the larva' are 

 mimetic, and take to a remarkable degree the color of the bark of 

 the tree they happen to inhabit. 



It is very certain that full knowledge will largely reduce the num- 

 ber of so-called species. By the necessities of the case, species are 

 at first very largely multiplied. They are very generally based upon 

 a single specimen, often faded, rubbed, or mutilated. Again, varie- 

 ties and aberrations, in the absence of proof to the contrary, are 

 looked upon as species, and variations are regarded as varieties, if 

 not something higher. 



Childhood is troubled with its own diseases. Measles, chicken- 

 pox, and whooping-cough are diseases of an eruptive or fungoid 

 character, incident to infancy. The infancy of a science has a like 

 experience. The great trouble is, however, that the results of the 

 diseases remain in the science to retard its growth and weaken its 

 manhood. The diagnosis of the disease is easy, but the pharmaco- 

 poeia of knowledge lias nothing to reach the case, and cleanse science 

 of the foreign anddmrti'ul accumulations of the disorder. 



The genus Catocala is a compact one. and with more than ordi- 

 nary natural boundaries. It is separable, on the Hubnerian plan, 

 into several groups by the color of the hind wings of the species. 

 But. as always, this method of division is artificial and superficial, 

 and does not, by any means, express the affinities of the species here 

 or elsewhere 1 . Zoe and Ilia, Cerogama and Belieta, Electa and Cbn- 

 cumbens are near each other, though the hind wings differ in color ; 

 and so with many others. Color is the least reliable expression of 

 relationship ; yet this is the best we can do at present. 



