THE 
WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
"entoma quidqlid agunt nostri est farrago ubelli.” 
No. 35.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1863, [Price 2c?, 
GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE CRAM- 
EID2E AND CHIL0NID2E. 
From the Latin of Prof. P. C. 
Zeller. 
No. 3. 
HAVE no need to apologise for 
the length of my definitions. If 
possible, I have made them very 
short, but, in no case are they longer 
than appeared necessaiy. I entirely 
disagree with those who hold that 
they must crowd a mass of words 
into their definitions before they can 
make their point clear. Nothing, in 
my opinion, is more calculated to 
perplex the inquirer. To look for 
i important characteristics among a 
imass of more insignificant ones, is 
like looking for islands in the mid- 
cdle of the sea. They are equally 
mistaken who reject definitions 
;;altogether, and content themselves 
with writing lengthy descriptions. 
'For such descriptions have the same 
i fault as the definitions before alluded 
! to, namely a disregard to the con- 
venience of the student, who has to 
’ hunt for important marks of distinc- 
:iou among a host of trivial and 
inoonstant ones. The fact is, a 
definition should be one thing, a 
description another. The former, 
should be dispatched in as few words 
as possible, the latter, should com- 
prise even the most trifling charac- 
ters, merely in order to make our 
acquaintance with the species more 
complete. I have taken great pains 
to make my own answer these 
qualifications, and I trust I have not 
altogether fallen short of my pur- 
pose. In fine, I would just observe, 
that I have thought right to make 
one or two more genera. I will make 
no mention of those which others 
have allowed, as it is easy to see 
that Nature has allowed them too. 
But the Crambi are such a vast 
group, that it behoves us to take 
great care that such species as are 
allied to one another by some un- 
mistakeable link, but differ consider- 
ably from the rest, should not be 
left unseparated from the masr. 
Accordingly I have formed the 
genera Calamotropha and Cathdrylla-, 
each, as I think, on the claims of 
their respective peculiarities. Yet, 
though I have eliminated these, I 
must allow that the number of 
