MEAGRE DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES, &c. 
107 
Several males, taken by Mr. P. Knetzing near Montreal, Canada, were, through his goodness, added to my collection. 
It is evident that we have as yet but a limited acquaintance with the fauna of Canada and British Columbia, as is proven bv the 
many new and undescribed species lately received therefrom ; conspicuous in the East are the above described Sphinx and H epialus 
Thule, and in the West , Euleucophceus tri-color, Packard, and Henry Edwards’ Smerinthus Occidental^, a monstrous form of Modestus, 
expanding nearly 6 inches, and of a very pale yellowish fawn-colour, much like in the European S. Quercus. 
Macroglossa JEthra, Nov. Sp. or Var. 
Female. Expands If inches. 
Above, head and body olivaceous of a paler yellow shade towards the sides ; caudal brush yellow and black, beneath same as 
Diffinis. Primaries, margin much broader than in Diffinis and serrated on inner edge ; a large carmine apical spot ; base and interior 
margin reddish with olivaceous hairs on the former. Inferiors, narrow brown exterior margin ; abdominal margin carmine ; beneath, 
costa of both wings red. One example from Montreal, Canada ; from Mr. P. Knetzing. 
If this be not a new species, it is certainly a most remarkable aberrant form of Diffinis ; the total absence of the broad black trans- 
verse band of upper side of abdomen is a most noticeable feature, as well as the entirely red costa of all Avings beneath. 
Hepialus Desolates, Nov. Sp. 
Expands 2 inches. Brown, same shade as H. Sylvinus, L ., to which the whole insect bears a tolerable resemblance, but the lines, 
etc., are better defined in the European species, than which ours is much more obscure ; on primaries the principal markings are a 
narrow sub-basal band accompanied with a darker shade, midway between this and the outer margin, running from apex to interior 
margin, is another paler line with its darker shade, from which at the inner margin emanates another short line which runs somewhat 
diagonally towards the sub-basal line. Secondaries brown, with a few barely distinguishable paler spots on costa. One example taken 
at Owen’s Lake, Nevada, by one of the naturalists of Lieut. Wheeler’s Expedition in 1871. 
Catocala Jocasta, Nov. Sp. 
Female. 1J inches. 
Head and thorax grey, abdomen yellowish-grey p beneath, dirty white. Primaries grey, on costa signs of a transverse anterior line ; 
reniform indicated by a few darker scales ; transverse posterior is not a line, but a broad shade ; beyond this, except a small intervening 
space, the wing is darker ; fringes same colour. 
Secondaries yellow, with a broad black marginal band which is deeply indented on inner edge, towards the abdominal angle, 
where it becomes much narrower ; fringes white. L T nder surface pale yellow, primaries with a broad marginal band, narrowest at inner 
angle ; a rather narrow median band which does not reach to inner margin ; no traces of a sub-basal band whatever ; fringes grey. 
Secondaries, marginal band as above, no mesial ; a few scattered scales on costa, and a few more where the discal lune ought to be ; 
fringes white. 
A very curious and interesting sjnecies, evidently allied, notwithstanding the absence of the median band of secondaries, to Whit- 
neyi, Dodge, and Myrrha, figured on Plate XI ; there are no distinct markings on the primaries, which are only clouded and have a 
powdery appearance. One example received from Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Kansas. 
PSEUDOHAZIS NeTTALLI, Nov. Sp. 
Male. Expands three inches. Head and body ochrey yellow. Abdomen with very faint indications of a chain or row of con- 
fluent dark rings, reaching from thorax to anal segment on each side. Primaries pale flesh-colour. Secondaries same yellow as body ; 
all wings with a submarginal black band, narrower than in Eglanterina or Pica ; veins, from outer margin to this band, accompanied 
with black, broad at margin, narrowing to a point as they near the transverse band ; a large black discal spot on all wings. 
Female larger than male. Primaries whitish-yellow, very pale. Secondaries ochrey yellow ; the same black ornamentation as 
in male, but not near so heavy. 
One (T and one 9 taken by Mr. Nuttall in 1836, at the Rocky Mountains, head of Snake River, and now in possession of 
Mr. Titian R. Peale, who dedicated the species to its discoverer, in his MSS. description and unpublished plates. 
Differs from all allied forms in the immaculate abdomen, which in all the other species is heavily annulated with black. 
Harris’ species, Hera, (described in Report of Insects of Massachusetts, 1841, and figured in Audubon’s “Birds of America,” 
T. 359) is nothing more than Eglanterina, Boisduval (Lep. Gal., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 51, 1852). The examples of Hera were taken 
by Mr. Nuttall at the Rocky Mountains; three of them were in collection of Mr. T. R. Peale, who received them from Mr. Nuttall 
himself; one of these three, a Mr. Peale still has in excellent preservation, the other two were destroyed through accident. Another 
specimen was in collection of Mr. Doubleday, England ; this one was the original of Dr. Harris’ description ; and two more are in my 
cabinet. All these specimens cited were taken in 1836 by Mr. Nuttall. The species is also common in California; but, as a general 
thing, these are not quite as heavily marked with black as those found in the Rocky Mountains. 
There is also much variation in the position of the .black discal spots ; in some examples these connect with the transverse band, 
in others are very close but disconnected, and in still others .are far removed. 
Walker’s species, Pica, (British Mus., Cat. 6, p. 1318, 1855) of which I possess one $ example, taken by Mr. Drexeler in the 
Rocky Mountains, is a somewhat narrower-winged species, easily known by the uniform white ground colour of all wings. 
Dr. Leconte, in his paper on nomenclature already alluded to on page 102, in speaking of the binomial system, says : “ The argu- 
ments in favour of the original describer of the species on the one hand, and of the author of the binomial combination adopted on the 
other hand, are equally strong, perhaps, as regards the convenience of science, and each side has been argued with the utmost ability ; 
practically, I do not regard it as a matter of any consequence, if each person will distinctly declare in his work which system he used. 
The number of instances in which any confusion can result are few, and the synonymy in catalogues which are always at hand will at 
once resolve the doubt.” 
There can absolutely be nothing said in favour of the author of the combination ; the specific name is the one by which we know 
the insect. No one speaks of Vanessa Antiopa as Fanessa, but every one knows what insect is meant when we say Antiopa. 
In Grote & Robinson’s List Lep. N. Am., Boisduval’s genus, “ Adelocepliala,” is coupled with Harris’ species, “ bicolor,” and 
Mr. GrotCs name placed behind the combination, thus , “ Adelocephala bicolor, Grote;” again, ILubner’s genus, Anisota, and Abbot 
& Smith’s species, Pellucida, are made Anisota Pellucida, Grote. The Cecropia of Linnaeus, Mr. Grote has placed in his genus, Platysamia, 
and transmogrified it into Platysamia Cecropia, Grote, and so on in this manner have the names of Linnaeus, Fabricius, Abbot & Smith, 
Harris, Walker, etc., been put aside to make place for the greater one of Grote. 
Were this method generally followed, the confusion consequent would be truly astounding; the dragon’s teeth of Cadmus, or the 
fecundity of the louse, would be as nothing to the multiplicity of synonyms that would issue from each species. For instance, take 
Catopsilia Argante : Fabricius first noticed this species in his Syst. Ent., and we cite him, in consequence, as the author; gentlemen of 
the above school would say Catopsilia Argante, Hubner, though that author did not even place Argante in his genus Catopsilia, but in his 
