NOTES ON THE SYNONYMY OF NOCTUID MOTHS. 239 



Prof. Smith writes to me that I ought to compare the 

 descriptions of types before associating the latter as synonyms. 

 He seems to forget that I have to deal with the species of the 

 whole world, and that to compare all the descriptions of what I 

 consider synonyms would occupy more time than can be spared, 

 if our collection is ever to be got into working order. Moreover, 

 the catalogues hitherto published have one great fault ; they do 

 not, as a rule, give references, so that I should have to make a cata- 

 logue of the United States species, with references, before I could 

 discover where the descriptions were published. I do not profess 

 to do anything of the kind ; I compare Grote's, Harvey's, and 

 other types in the Grote collection, with Walker's, Guenee's, and 

 other types in our collection, and if I believe them to be identical 

 I say as much ; and Americans ought to be glad to get even this 

 help in clearing up their doubts, though I lay no claim to 

 omniscience, and do not pretend to be incapable of occasional 

 blunders, such as omitting to observe spine-like bristles inserted 

 between the scales on the fore tibise of an ordinary-looking 

 Noctuid. I think if Prof. Smith reflects upon these few observa- 

 tions, he will be less inclined to use the lash to those who are 

 honestly attempting to work, however imperfectly, in his interest, 

 no less than that of other American lepidopterists. 



"Orthosia" guttilinea, Walker, Lep. Het. xv. p. 1709 (1858), 

 is a faded specimen of the European Amathes xanthograjjha. 



"CaradrinaV ijosticata, Walker, Lep. Het. xv. p. 1695 

 (1858), is Amathes riibi of Europe. 



ToxocAMPA, Guen. 

 EccEiTA, Led. 



Lederer separates Eccrita from Toxocampa on the ground 

 that the primaries are narrower by about one-half, and that the 

 middle and hind tibige are set with long thinly distributed spine- 

 like bristles. The relative narrowness of the wings exists more 

 in fancy than reality, and the few scattered spines are even 

 better shown in the middle tibiae of Toxocampa enormis, but on 

 its hind tibi?e it has only half the number ; similar spinous 

 tibise, I should imagine, would also occur in T. maxima. A 

 character such as this is far more trivial than the difference 

 between simple and pectinated antennae ; and where the species 

 with or without spines have, as Lederer admits, the same 

 pattern and general structure, and their larvae the same appear- 

 ance and manner of life, it seems quite clear that tlie presence of 

 spines is a specific, and not a generic, character. The varial)ility 

 in the number of spines militates strongly against its value as a 

 generic character. 



The right of the Toxoeampids to family rank may be questioned. 

 In my opinion they are simply NoctuidaB, and nearly related to 



