508 PROF. J. 0. WESTWOOD ON THE UEAJIIID^. 



terized, with P. leilus and P. patroclus mentioned as two of the seven species of which 

 it was stated to be composed, the names of the other five species not being given. 



The name Urania proposed by Fabricius for this new genus had unfortunately been, 

 then recently, applied by Schreber to a genus of plants of the natural order Musacese, 

 from Madagascar, to which Adanson, Sonnerat, and Jussieu had previously given the 

 name of Bavenala, which the tree also bears in Madagascar. It is true that the name 

 Urania is still "unjustifiably"' retained for the tree in botanical works; but surely it 

 ought to give way to Bavenala, in which case Urania would be free for use in ento- 

 mology^. It moreover does not appear to me objectionable to employ a generic name 

 for a group of objects in one kingdom of nature which has already been, and is even still 

 in use in a difi"erent kingdom. I should therefore not hesitate on both these grounds 

 to retain the generic name of Urania in entomology, and to consider the first species 

 named by Fabricius (P. leilus) as its type, that particular species being a good repre- 

 sentative of the group of new species which have subsequently been described as most 

 closely allied to P. leilus. In like manner, as P. leilus and the other new species allied 

 to it are good representatives of the whole group, I did not hesitate in my new edition 

 of Drui-y's work on Exotic Insects, nor do I now, to consider Urania as the type of the 

 family to which to which I applied and still retain the name of Uraniidse, it having in 

 more recent times been deemed advisable to split up the genus Urania into smaller 

 genera. 



In 1816, Hiibner, evidently profiting by the publication of the Fabrician system in 

 Illiger's Magazine, retained the previously mentioned species in a single subdivision of 

 his great phalanx Geometree, forming them into the first family Heroicae of his 4th 

 geometrideous stii'ps. Lares, and subdividing them as follows in his ' Verzeichniss,' 

 pp. 289, 290:— 



Coitus 1. Larcnd^: LARUNDA, Orithearia [Orithea, Cram. 262. C, D). 



Coitus 2. Lyss^: LYSSA, Achillana [Patroclus, Cram. 198. A), and Patroclaria [Patroclus, 

 Linn., Cram. 109. A, B). 



Coitus 3. Alcides : ALCIDIS, Orontiaria {Orontes, Linn., Cram. 83. A, B). 



Coitus 4. Chrysiridi^: CHRYSIRWIA, Riphearia (Ripheus, Cram. 385. A, B). 



Coitus 5. UranijE: URANIA, Sloanaria [Sloanus, Cram. 85.E, F); U. leilaria {Leilus, Linn., 

 Cram. 85. C,D). 



Coitus 6. Mani* : MANIA, Empedoclaria (Empedocles, Cram. 199. A, B) ; M. candilunaria 

 (Lunus, Linn., Cram. 200. A) ; M. lunigeraria [Lumis, Cram. 200. B, C). 



These six subdivisions form so many genera which it is desirable still to retain. 



' To use the phrase of Loudon, Encyol. of Plants, p. 245. 



^ M. Boisduval (Ifouv. Aim. du Mus. ii. p. 260) perceived the inconvenience of the same name being em- 

 ployed in entomology and botany, but considered that the long usage of the name Uranict in entomology out- 

 weighed such inconvenience, " Si le nom de ce genre n'etoit adopte depuis long-temps par la plupart des 

 entomologistes, U seroit convenable de le changer parce qu'H existe deja un genre des plantes appele Urania.'' 



