SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
221 
CIENTIFIC NOTES. 
Agrotis tritici var. subgothica, Haw., and Agrotis jaculifera, 
Guen. — In Ent. Rec., i., p. lo, Mr. Butler’s attention was drawn to an 
error re the use of Agrotis subgothica^ Haw. In Ent. Rec.^ i., p. 31, 
Mr. Butler referred to Grote’s Check List his authority. I pointed out 
the error in the July number of the Canadian Entomologist, p. 159, 
and Mr. Grote has now put matters straight by sinking subgothica, 
Haw., altogether as an American species. In future the American 
species will be called jaculifera, Guen. {Canadian Entomologist, xxiii., 
p. 202). It will therefore be necessary for Mr. Butler to rename this 
species in the Museum collection. — J. W. Tutt. 
Double Pupation. — I think I have before observed that this has 
been noticed in several species of Bombyx. It is well known 
to occur in B. mori, the common silkworm moth, when, of course, the 
cocoons are valueless for commercial purposes. Mr. Bond noticed 
that in such cases, the sexes were male and female (a pigeon’s pair). 
Did Mr. Hew'ett examine his ? — Sydney Webb, Maidstone House, 
Dover. July, 1891. 
Generic Names in the Acronyctid^. — I am not now discussing 
the theoretical 01 practical importance of the characters disclosed by 
Dr. Chapman in this sub-family of the Owlet Moths, but I wish to draw 
attention to the reason given for employing the new names. Dr. 
Chapman says {Ent, Rec., Sept., p. 150): — “As to the names, my 
dithculty was that none of the many names that have been heaped up 
as sub genera in this genus admitted of the meanings I wanted.” To 
this I say that if every new meaning carries with it new names there 
will be an end of stability in generic nomenclature. If new specific 
characters are detected one would not rename the species, and the law 
of priority is to be equally enforced as to genera. It admits of discus- 
sion as to whether the characters disclosed by Dr. Chapman in his 
painstaking studies are of practical value, or to be considered as the 
exclusive basis of genera in the AcronyctidcE. I believe other groups of 
moths may afford characters, by exclusive attention to which existing 
classificatory arrangements might be altered. Did the neiv systematists 
allow themselves to rename their new generic divisions by excluding all 
older terms, we should be plunged into pitiable confusion. In this 
genus Acronycta, or Apatela, as I prefer, following the law of priority, 
to call it, I believe all the European groups are represented in North 
America, where I have discovered Jochecera and Arctomyscis. Other 
groups, such as Merolonche and Eulonche, appear to be only North 
American. Genera appear to me, as a rule, to be better founded upon 
characters taken from the imago, although all the stages afford valuable 
indications of the relationship between the species. — A. R. Grote, 
Bremen. October \st, 1891. 
Addition of Tortrix steineriana var. dohrniana to the British 
List. — I find the species exhibited as Tortrix donelana at the Lanca- 
shire Society’s meeting is T. steineriana var. dohrniana, the pine-feeding 
species allied to T. viburnana'^ in the Ent. Record (i., p. 32). 
Messrs. Adkin and C. G. Barrett each exhibited some bred, but apparently 
^ The correct spelling of this name is vibiirniana , Fab., Mantissa , ii., 229 . — Ed. 
