Insects. 1729 



Agrotis Monostigma, (Curt.), apparently a tropical species; Acontia Caloris, a native 

 of the South of Italy, Acontia Cataena,(Curt.), in all probability not even an European 

 insect; Psodos Equestraria from Ashdown forest! — than which a more improbable 

 locality could scarcely have been fixed upon — the insects inhabiting the Alps, and 

 the larvae, according to the Swiss entomologists, feeding upon Azaleas and Rhododen- 

 drons. It is very singular that so many species should have come into the possession 

 of one collector, not one of which has ever been met with in Britain by any other 

 person ; and I must express my firm belief that every one of them is foreign I will 

 now make a few remarks upon species contained in other cabinets. 



Agrotis subgothica. Haworth's insect is evidently simply a variety of either 

 Agrotis tritici or aquilina. The species described and figured in the ' Illustrations,' 

 page 126, plate 22, figure 3, is American. I have traced all the specimens which 

 I have seen of this species in collections of British Lepidoptera to one source, and 

 I believe the gentleman who distributed them, inadvertently mixed a number of North 

 American insects with his British ones. I received from him as British a Bombyx 

 which my brother took in Florida ; and Mr. Benjamin Standish possesses two Bom- 

 byces, one of them a Cerura, the other perhaps a Notodonta, from the same entomo- 

 logist, which were sent to him as British, whereas both are well-known North Ameri- 

 can insects. 



Xylophasia hirticornis, Steph., page 177. This species was in the cabinet of the 

 late Mr. Hatchett, now in the possession of my friend, Mr. Thomas Ingall ; it is a 

 native of Florida, where it was captured by my brother. 



Haclena arnica P Steph., page 180. The specimens of this species contained in 

 the old cabinets were most probably American ; it is one of the commonest of the 

 Noctuse in the United States. Having a high northern range, it may be common to 

 both continents, and the Luperina Arctica of Boisduval is closely allied, if not identi- 

 cal. L. arnica is a very different insect. 



Erastria minuta, Steph., page 118. This is not the minuta of Hubner, but a com- 

 mon North American species, which has never been found in Europe ; it, however, 

 existed in several of the old collections. 



Ophiusa crassiuscula. This is another American insect. The specimen alluded 

 to as having been taken in the north of England was obtained by Mr. Weaver from 

 some person who knew nothing of its history, and Mr. Weaver assured me that he 

 never stated it to be a British specimen. 



Catephia leucomelas, Steph., page 128. The specimen alluded to as having been 

 in Francillon's cabinet is a North American insect, and bears but a very slight re- 

 semblance to the true leucomelas, (Linn.) The description of Mr. Stephens appears, 

 however, to apply to the European species, and not to the specimen formerly in 

 Francillon's cabinet, and now in that of Mr. Bentley. 



Lozotcenia biustulana, Steph. A native of North America. 



Lozoteenia Schreberiana, Steph. This species bears no resemblance to the Tortrix 

 Schreberiana, (Linn.), except in having a white costal spot: it is Sericoris trileucana, 

 (Gm.), a common American species. 



Crambus tentaculellus, Steph. The specimen in Mr. Bentley's cabinet, the only 

 one known in Britain, appears to be the American Crambus intervibrellus ; at any 

 rate it is not tentaculellus, which is a very large species, totally dissimilar to Mr. 

 Bentley's insect. 



I could extend this list much further, but the above will suffice to show that great 



