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Psyche 6:147, 1891.

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September 1891.1 ps~c'H.?3. 147
as described by Edwards & Elliot, that I will EDEMA ALBICOSTA i3bner.t
not re-describe them. When young the
larvae each rest on a little web on the under side of a leaf, the head held out quite flat. The mature larva is thickest at joint 9, and tapers slightly to the extremities. Beside the yellow subdorsal band mentioned by the describers there is a fainter white substigma- tal one on joints 2-4.
The widths of head for the five stages, calcu- lated and actually found, are as follows :- Calculated.-0.48, 0.74, 1.14, 1.75, 1.7 mm. Ratio, 0.65.
Found.-o.7, 1.2, 1.7, 2.7 mm.
The cocoon is formed of few threads, at
the ground.
The pupa is very dark brown,
almost black; flattened on the ventral side, the dorsum evenly rounded; finely punc-
tured. The abdominal segments are closely appressed, motionless ; cremaster none, anal segments evenly rounded. Length 10 mm.,
width 4.5 mm.
There are two broods each year, and the
winter is passed in the pupal stage.
Hiibn., Noct. 440.
Herr-Sch., Syst. bearb. sch. Eur. fig. 131. 1871. Staudinger, Cat. Lep. Europ. (Note.) This larva has not such an abnormal de-
velopment as I have supposed.
I have re-
calculated the series for the widths of head, and find the following much better than the one I gave in Psyche, v 5, p. 421, viz. :- Calculated.~0.61, 0.85, 1.19, 1.66, 2.30,3.2. Ratio, .7z.
Found.+.+, 0.7, 1.3, 1.7, 2.3, 3.2 mm.
This fits the observed facts except in regard to the first two stages, and I may have
measured them too small. All the measure- ments were taken from living larvae, and hence are liable to some discrepancy.
The species has six larval stages, which is abnormal among the Ptilodontes if we ex- cept Ichthyura incZusa,^. which seems to have also six stages, and the species of Afatelodes and Nadafa, which probably have even
more.
THE NEW CATALOGUE OF EURO-
PEAN COLEOPTERA.*
This is in every way the most elaborate
and important edition (No. iv) of the Cata- logue of the European Coleoptera yet pub- lished. It is on a somewhat new plan. The family arrangement is that usually followed in Europe. The sequence of the genera and species is that adopted by some monogra- pher of the family, or genus, usually the latest, reference to whose work is made
under the title. The name of the species, with the principal synonyms, and the author- ities for their creation,with other useful biblio- graphical references follow, as well as indi- cations of geographical distribution within the faunal limits laid down. In the preface it is stated that the work was parcelled out to Mr. L. Ganglbauer, Dr. L. v. Heyden, Dr. * Catalogus Coleopterorum Europae, Caucasi et Ar. meniae Rossicae. Edited by Edmnnd Reitter. Ber. tin, Modling, Caen. 1891.
t I have erroneously referred to this species in Psyche, v. 5, p. 431, as E. albifvons S. & A. All
the specimens which have occurred to me at Rhine- beck, N. Y., have been E. albicosta, as I have recently discovered. The species may readily be separated by the character of the projecting tooth of the white costal band, which in albifrons is regularly rounded, but in albicosta is
sharply pointed or dentate. I strongly
suspect that the larvae described by Mr. Beutenmiiller in Ent. Amer. vol. 6, p. 75, and by Dr. Packard in Proc. Bast. soc. nat. hist. vol. 24, p. 525, as E. albifrons, are really those of E. alhicosta.
$Prof. French finds six stages for I, palla (=in. cZz6sa) in Can. ent., v. 17, p. 42, and I have mcasure- ments which, as far as they go, corroborate him.



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148 PSYCHE. [September 1891.
Ed. Eppelsheim, Mr. Edmund Reitter, and
Mr. J. Weise, each of whom is responsible only for his own part, which is designated. In comparing it with the third edition of 1883, a vast number of changes in specific names is notable, and many long familiar ones have been relegated to synonymy.
Antiquity seems to have been extensively ransacked, and many entombed names have
been stripped of their cerements and brought to the light.
How science is to be benefited
by all this is not evident, but if it has to be done, the quicker the better. Had the code of nomenclature adopted by the British asso- ciation in 1842 and again in 1865, and by the Association of American geologists and nat- uralists in 1845, making the XI1 edition of the Systema naturae (1766) of Linnaeus the limit of time from beyond which no name
could be advanced, and according to which the specific names in both the European and American catalogues were first recorded, much of this confusion could have been
avoided. But this being set aside, every one is free to do as he pleases, and frequently the brief and imperfect descriptions of the ante- Linnaeans are made to apply in an imaginary way to insects common and long known by
other names, which are at once dropped, and the semi-imaginary ones substituted, to the intense disgust of many who fail to perceive how science is to be benefited. It is not beyond hope that in time a limit in this direction may be reached. A fire goes out when the fuel is all consumed.
This catalogue is of some interest to Amer- ican coleopterists, as it advances many new names for species common to the two hemis- pheres, as for example : Our abundant Phi- lonthus aeneus must hereafter be called
ĺ´politu Linn., and our polittis, fuscifennis Mann. ; &$hilus ylabratus, a world-wide
name, must be replaced by niger Rossi;
Nitidula bipustitlata, by bipunctata Linn. ; Xestobium mfo-villosum DeG., is to super- sede tessellatum; and the imported elm-leaf beetle, Galeruca xanthomelaern becomes
Zuteola Mull, etc.
Justice has been done Mr.
Say in placing his Phylethus bifasciatm in the catalogue, but injustice in advancing Bru- chus irresectus Fahr. over his obsoletns. It evidently requires immense labor,
research, much en tomological knowledge, and calm, unbiased judgment to produce a satisfactory work of this kind, and it can scarcely be doubted the authors have fairly succeeded. JOHN HAMILTON.
TEMPERATURE EXPERIMENTS WITH.
MOTHS.
The Transactions of the Entomological
society of London for 1891, Part i, give some recent experiments made by Mr. F, Merrifield on two double-brooded species of Selenia. We extract the following general conclusions. I.
That both the marking and 'the color-
ing of the perfect insect may be materially affected by the temperature to which the pupa is exposed.
2.
That the markings are chiefly affected
by long-continued exposure, probably prev- ious to the time when the insect has begun to go through the changes between the central inactive stage and emergence.
3. That the coloring is chiefly affected during the penultimate pupal stage, i. e., before the coloring of the imago begins to show.
4. That a low temperature during this
penultimate state causes darkness, a high temperature during the same period having the opposite effect.
5.
That, in the species operated on, a dif- ference between 80ĺ and 75O is sufficient to produce the extreme variation in darkness caused by temperature, a further lowering of the temperature having no further effect on it. . . .
6.
That in these species dryness or moist-
ure during the pupal period, whether during a low temperature or a high one, has little or no eftect on the coloring of the imago.. , .



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