SYNONYMY OF FUMEA SKPITM. 179 



example with /■'. hitulina, hut strangely enou<rli makes no reference to 

 /•'. srpiinii, with which it is co-spocilic, and of which there is a series 

 in the same drawer as the series of A', hrtnlina, in the general collec- 

 tion of the liritish Museum. Later, in his Jlritish Lrinihiiitna, ii., 

 p. 305, Barrett maintains the name as tahuhdla, Bruand, giving si-/,ii(iii, 

 Speyer, as a synonym, whilst on p. 868, he writes: — "7*'. sciiinm, 

 Speyer, which Staudinger holds to he the same species, is found, 

 besides France, in central and southern Germany, Belgium, and 

 eastern Russia." R3ference to the original description" of Spsyer 

 shows that all this doubt is absolutely un-A'arrantod, and that the 

 Gei'!ni:i lepidopterists were quite clear about the matter whea they 

 made tahidi'lla, Bruand, a synonym of si'piit'ii, Bpjyer. Reference to 

 Bruand (.!/');(. dcs PHi/chulcs, ]). 1Q2) sh )\vs th it this auth )r kaew in 

 1 <-5-5 Uiat: his spacios was Hcplirn, Speyer. 



The syu):iymy, so far as it gjes, is correctly given in Staudinger 

 and Wocke's Cataloii, p. G5. But it is quite evident on reference to 

 the literature bearing on these names that, whatever species tahiddla, 

 Bruand, may be, it is also tabahdln, Gn., Ann. Soc. Knt. Fran-f, 1846, 

 p. 15, for Guenee described his tabnlclla, from the same insect that 

 Bruand had named and figured as clathrcUa, in the Ann. Knt. Soc. 

 France, 1844, p. 15, pi. vi., i, E. Guenee notes (loc. cit., 1846, p. 11): — 

 " Lastly, there is the Tineid described by M. Bruand, which he has 

 obligingly sent to me, and which differs from all the others, on account 

 of its deep colour, and by its apparent resemblance to the Psychids of 

 the nitidcUa group. I name it tahiddla.'' There is no need to quote 

 the diagnosis to be found on p. 15. In his Mon. ilcs Psi/c/tidcs, p. 102, 

 Bruand accepted Guenee's correction, and called the insect (the same 

 individual serving for the type), " Psi/clic tahiddla, Guenee ^^ clathrdla, 

 Bruand, Snc. Fnt., 1844 -- .scpiKni, Zeller, Speyer in litt.'' After 

 explaining how, acting on the advice of Duponchel, he came to call 

 the insect clatkrdla, he says that some time after he had named his 

 species dathrdla, he received the true Solcnobia dat/trdla from 

 Austria, and saw that the species were distinct. He then gave, in his 

 collection, the name of daitstrdla to his insect, but that, in the mean- 

 time, ^L Guenee. who had noticed the error, had named the insect 

 tabnlclla, and he adds that he accepted the name on the ground of 

 priority. Bruand, however, still made an error in writing, " sc/n'mn, 

 Zeller, Speyer in litt.,'' for the name was Speyer's, and his life-history 

 {his, 1846, p. 81) is still the best one extant. The synonymy, there- 

 fore, works out as follows : — 



Sepiiim, Speyer, "Isis," Jan. 184(», p. iU ; " Geog. Verb. Schmett.," i., p. 4(10 

 (1858) ; H.-Sch., " Sys. Bearb.," v., p. V,2 (1855) ; " Nen. Schm. Siicke," lij,'. 10 

 (185()) ; Breyer, " Ami. Hoc. Ent. Beige," 18G1, p. (i, pi. iii. ; StaiuL, " Cat.," p. (J5 

 (1871). Clathrdla, Bid., "Ann. Soc. Ent. P'ranoe," 1844, p. 1<I5, pi. vi., i. k. 

 TahuleUa, Gn., "Ann. Soc. Ent. Fiance," 184(j [poM. March), p. 15 ; Zell., " Linn. 

 Ent.," vii., p. 3.58 (18-5;^) ; Brnanil, " Mon. des Psych.," p. 102 (18-53), Wocke (with 

 doubt), "Cat.," p. 2m (1871): Bair., "E.M.M.." .\xx.. p. 'JIaS (1.s',)4) ; "Brit. 

 Lep.," ii., p. 3(j5 (18'.»5). 



Why, out of this wealth of synonymy, Barrett selected tahiddla, 

 Bruand, to stand for the species, is beyond my comprehension ! One 

 would have not been surprised had he been foggecl between .^cjiium, 

 Speyer, and tabnlclla, Guenee, the former with only a few months' 

 priority. One can only surmise that he possibly took the first name 

 that offered. We have not referred here to the great probability that 

 nana, Piorkhausen, is this species. 



