56 



Guende, an insect I have fully described in Proc. Ent. Soc. Philadelphia, 1872. I .shall, 

 call this stouter species G. Gueneana, and call the G. Desperata of Guen^e and our collec- 

 tions C. Vidua of Abbot and Smith. Resemblances to European forms led Abbot into 

 some mistakes, which have probably not been adequately corrected by Dr. Harris, but 

 wait full collections from the South and detailed comparisons in all stages with the allied 

 forms. Abbot and Smith's has been long our most important work on our butterflies 

 and moths, small as is the number of species illustrated. This arises from the fact that 

 all stages of the insects are given, and it has become in this respect a model of what an 

 illustrated work on the Lepidoptera should be. It is only recently excelled by the 

 magnificent volumes of Mr. W. H. Edwards on our butterflies. Among our larger and 

 interesting moths first figured by Abbot are the Blind Hawk, Paonias exccecatus ; the 

 Brown Eyed Hawk, Calasymbolus.myops : the Walnut Hawk, Cressonia juglandis ; the 

 Laurel Hawk, Sphinx kalmice, (Eig. 28.) 



N^ 



Fig. 28. 



After Abbot, the most important work is that of Jacob Hiibner, a German naturalist 

 of Augsburg, who has published a number of works on the Lepidoptera, splendidly 

 illustrating a very large number of species. Scattered in other books on Lepidoptera 

 issued at the close of the last, and beginning of the present century, may be found single 

 North American species. Such are, for instance the works of Stoll, De Beauvais, and 

 Esper. Hiibner's principal works are, the " Sammlung " and the "Zutraege." The 

 "Sammlung" bears the dates 1806 to 1825 ; but it seems certain that a few plates were 

 issued at various dates of the last volume, by Geyer, up to 1837, after Hiibner's death. 

 According to a written statement given me by Dr. Herrich-Schseffer, a literary successor 

 of Hiibner, and owner of the original plates, these posthumous plates did not include any 

 of the North American species issued by Hiibner, and afterwards re-named by Dr. Harris, 

 but I do not feel certain that this statement was complete. It is only so far as these 

 few species are concerned, that the question has any practical bearing for us. Hiibner 

 figures four of our hawk moths Sphinx chersis, Csratomia amyntor, Philampelus pan- 

 dorus, and Phlegethontius celetos. Dr. Harris erroneously describes Pandorus under the 

 name Satellitia of Linnd, which is a West Indian species distinct from ours ; and Celeus 

 under the name of Carolina of Linne, a different species ; and gives new names to the 

 two first. But as Dr. Harris re-describes several other species of Hiibner, and, in fact, 

 does not allude to Hiibner at all, I agree with Dr. Morris, that Hubner's were not then 

 known to him ; as authority for the genus Xyleutes, Harris quotes Newman, not Hiibner. 

 It is evident that Hubner's names for these hawk moths have priority, and they are 

 accordingly preferred in our lists. So far as the names are concerned, Geyer retained the 

 names for the species proposed by Hiibner, as he tells us in the Zutraege, and as to the 

 plates of the Sammlung, he evidently only finished and issued those already determined 

 for publication by Hiibner, whose name alone appears as the author of the Sammlung. It 

 is probable, and indeed certain, that the plate of Aymntor was really issued not later than 

 1837, the latest date given by Dr. Herrich-Schseffer; Dr. Hagen makes it 1838, which in any 

 event ante-dates Harris. That Dr. Harris only gradually beeame acquainted with the 



