50 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



lie writes that it resembles the preceding species almost in every 

 particular, pointing out certain differences ; this latter species is 

 figured in pi. i. fig. 11, he states, and it appears b}'^ the plate to 

 be a smaller moth than A. suhgothica. 



Mr. Butler, in ' Transactions of the Entomological Society of 

 London' (1889), p. 377, gives both species in his "Synonymic 

 notes on the moths of the earlier genera of Noctuites" thus: — 

 Agrotis suhgothica, Haw. (Feltia clucens, Walk.), and Agrotis 

 jaculifera, Guen. ; stating the latter to be the A. tricosa of 

 Lintner, and the A. herilis, Grt. to be a very slight variety of it, 

 but that as its specific identity is unproved he has retained it as 

 a distinct species in the collection. So far all seems very clear, 

 at least to the extent that it is possible to judge from figures and 

 descriptions of so difficult a group as Agrotis and its allies. 



Through the liberality of the Smithsonian Institution, I have 

 of late become possessed of the ' Bulletin of the United States 

 National Museum,' No. 38 (1890), in which there is a most 

 elaborate and truly valuable paper entitled, " A Contribution 

 toward a Monograph of the Insects of the Lepidopterous family 

 Noctuidse of Temperate North America : Revision of the Genus 

 Agrotis," by John B. Smith. In this work I find the insect, 

 identified by Riley as A. suhgothica, given as Feltia jaculifera, Gn., 

 and the Agrotis jaculifera of Riley, in the Report quoted above, 

 is given as Feltia suhgothica; in other words, the names are 

 reversed, and Feltia herilis, Grt., is treated of as a distinct 

 species. 



Mr. Tutt, in the 'Entomologist's Record,' p. 10, writes thus : — 

 " As is well known to British lepidopterists, suhgothica. Haw., is 

 not a distinct species at all, but simply a synonym of A. tritici, 

 Linn., or at most a variety of that species." 



I am puzzled : to what insect was the name of Agrotis suh- 

 gothica given by Haworth and figured by Stephens ? 



In the 'Bulletin' mentioned I find the following British 

 species are also North American, viz. : — Agrotis ypsilon, Rott. 

 {suffusa,S.Y.); Peridroma occulta, Jjinn.', P. sawaa, Hiib.; Noctua 

 haja. Fab. ; N. c-nigrum, Linn. ; N. plecta, Linn. ; and, of course, 

 N.fennica, sometimes claimed as a British " casual or accidental 

 visitor." 



I have omitted to mention that Staudinger, in his ' Catalog 

 der Lepidopteren des Europaeischen Faunengebiets,' does not 

 include the name of Agrotis suhgothica. 



Beckenham, Kent. 



