SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 915 
me, showed traces of their attacks, antenne and lees beine sadly 
deficient—A. J. Cuirty, M.A., F.E.S8., Huntinefield, Faversham, 
Kent. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
THE GENERIC NAME S1ona, Dup.—The necessity of a thorough 
historical revision of the generic names used for the Heterocera, after 
the method followed by Scudder for the butterflies, is patent to every- 
one who commences to look into the question, and if I have only 
within the last twelvemonth become awakened to that necessity, this 
is simply because I had not earlier examined our literature from this 
point of view. ‘To illustrate the nature of the slip-shod work which 
has been allowed to find acceptance in our nomenclature (though 
indefensible under any conceivable code of rules) I may take the case 
of the generic name Siona, proposed by Duponchel in 1829-30, for a 
mixed genus, but with specified type dealbata [lineata, Scop., Ster., 
Cat.]. “Stephens, in 1831 (lll. Haust., i11., 244) very properly accepts 
the name for dealbata, in place of the preoccupied Idaea, Tr. (Stph. 
restr.), which he used in 1829, but by an unfortunate typographical 
error he gives it as Scoria, and, although he corrects this to Siona in 
the same volume (p. 328) and in his List Anim. Brit. Mus., p. 210 
(1850), and Curtis, in 1888, repeats the type citation of dealbata for 
Stona, yet later authors manage to ignore this, perpetuate the 
erroneous Scoria for dealbata, and make quite a new restriction for 
Siona, Dup., namely to nubilata and decussata ! Needless to say, the 
name Scoria must be dropped, as indeed it was dropped by its imad- 
vertent author nearly 70 years ago, and we must write Szona lineata 
(=dealbata) ; while for Stona, Stger., Cat. (nec Dup.) we must 
substitute Schistostege, Hb.—L. B. Prout, 249, Richmond Road, N.E. 
Corunation or Hepranus HEctus.—On the evening of June 27th 
I saw a female Hepialus hectus seated on the underside of a hornbeam 
leaf. Two males were observed flying around her for some time, 
when at last one of them copulated with her, iunmediately hanging 
head downwards without any of its legs attached to the leaf.—F. M. 
B. Carr, Terminus Hotel, Hailsham, Sussex. June 28th, 1900. 
CRross-PAIRING OF SMERINTHID sPEctEs.—The following are a few 
notes on an experiment I have been trymg with the hawk-moths, 
the following of which I have paired : 
(1) Male Smerinthus ocellatus with female S. populi. 
(2) Female S. ocellatus with male S. popult. 
(3) Male S. ocellatus with female S. tiliae. 
(1) On May 28th I bred one male and one female Simerinthus ocellatus. 
They were about to pair, when I took the female away and placed a 
female S. populi in its place, the male S. ocellatus flew round the cage 
and paired immediately. They were together 48 hours, after which 
S. populi commenced laying, and in six days had deposited about 90 
eges. On June 10th I noticed several eggs had become depressed and 
sunk in on the surface so that they were evidently infertile, the other 
ova of this batch remain as they were laid. The ova are bright apple- 
green and oval in outhne. (2) On June 3rd I bred a female and a 
male Smerinthus ocellatus. When about to pair, I removed the male S. 
ocellatus, and placed a male S. populi (recently bred) in the cage with 
the ? S. ocellatus ; they paired almost immediately, but were only 
