the hind wing is slightly produced at the anal angle. Here come two of the species found in our fauna, I. schwarziorum and I. unifascia. In the third section, typical Illice, fall the species in which the anal angle is not produced. Here are placed five species. The student may find the following key helpful in determining his specimens: A. Hind wing slightly produced at the anal angle. Lappets and markings of fore wing yellow, hind wings crimson, fuscous at apex. 1. Fore wing with the band across the wing crimson on the ...schwarziorum Dyar 2. Fore wing with the band across the wing not crimson on B. Hind wing not produced at the anal angle. .unifascia Grote Abdomen crimson; fore wing slaty-gray in ground color. 1. Fore wing with crimson patch on the costa.......subjecta Walker Abdomen orange or yellowish. 1. Hind wing pale yellow, with apex blackish. 2. Hind wing smoky-gray. (1) Illice unifascia Grote & Robinson, Plate XIII, Fig. 36, 9. (The Banded Lichenmoth.) Syn. tenuifascia Harvey. The insect ranges from the Ohio Valley southward to Texas, and from Virginia to FIG. 56.-Illice subjecta, ♂ . . (After Hampson.) plumbea Stretch .......nexa Boisduval .faustinula Boisduval FIG. 55-Illice unifascia, ♂ . 1. (After Hampson.) Florida. The transverse band is often interrupted in the middle of the wing, and there is variation in the color of the hind wings, which, while usually red or crimson, may also be orange, or even yellow. (2) Illice subjecta Walker, Plate XIII, Fig. 35, 8. (The Subject Lichen-moth.) Syn. packardi Grote. The distribution of this species is much the same as that of the preceding. Its range is slightly more northern than that of I. unifascia. (3) Illice nexa Boisduval, Plate XIII, Fig. 37, 8. (The Yellow-blotched Lichen-moth.) Syn. grisea Packard; deserta Felder. This species is found upon the Pacific coast, and is not uncommon in southern California. Genus PTYCHOGLENE Felder A small genus confined to the southwestern portions of our territory. The four species occurring within our fauna may be briefly characterized as follows: I. Head, thorax, base of abdomen, basal two-thirds of primaries and basal half of secondaries bright carmine; black marginal borders of both wings strongly dentate inwardly.... ....coccinea Henry Edwards 2. Head, thorax, and abdomen black; fore wings crimson, narrowly edged with black on inner margin, and with a black marginal band covering the wing for about onefifth of its length, dentate inwardly opposite end of cell. Hind wing blackish-brown, more or less broadly laved with crimson on costal margin.. phrada Druce 3, Head, thorax, and abdomen black; fore wing crimson, with the costal margin narrowly edged with black; terminal black band of the same width as in the preceding species, but not dentate inwardly. Hind wing pale yellowish crimson, with the outer marginal band strongly toothed inwardly on vein 2. 4. Head, thorax, and abdomen, deep black; patagia crimson; fore wings deep crimson, very narrowly edged on external margin with black, extending on costal margin a short distance from the apex toward the base. Hind wings deep blue-black, very narrowly edged on the costa with crimson, the crimson fascia not quite reaching the apex.... ....sanguineola Boisduval .tenuimargo sp. nov. (1) Ptychoglene phrada Druce, Plate XIII, Fig. 28, 3. (Druce's Lichen-moth.) Syn. flammans Dyar. (2) Ptychoglene tenuimargo sp. nov., Plate XIII., Fig. 7, 9. (The Narrow-banded Lichen-moth.) The type of this species, which I have received in recent years from Arizona and in great abundance from the State of Chihuahua in Mexico, is figured upon our plate. Genus PYGOCTENUCHA Grote A small genus containing three species, two of which are found within the limits of the United States. They may be discriminated as follows: 1. Uniformly black, collar-lappets and tip of abdomen ochreyellow; size small...... funerea Grote 2. Head, thorax, and abdomen black shot with brilliant blue; fore coxæ, tegulæ, patagia, and anal tuft scarlet, the latter white in the female; fore wings black shot with green; hind wings black shot with blue. Fully onethird larger than preceding species..... (1) Pygoctenucha funerea Grote, Plate XIII., Fig. 40, 8. (The Funereal Lichen-moth.) .terminalis Walker The specimen figured on our plate was kindly loaned for the purpose by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The insect occurs in New Mexico. (2) Pygoctenucha terminalis Walker. (The Blue-green Lichen-moth.) Syn. harrisi Boisduval; pyrrhoura Hulst; votiva Henry Edwards. This insect, referred by Hampson to his genus Protosia, must be placed here, Pygoctenucha having priority over Protosia, which falls as a synonym. Genus LERINA Walker Only one species belongs to this genus. It was originally named by Walker, and made the type of the genus. Subsequently it was redescribed by Boisduval as Ctenucha robinsoni, under which name it has passed current in American collections until recently. (1) Lerina incarnata Walker. (The Crimson bodied Lichen-moth.) Syn. robinsoni Boisduval. FIG. 57.-Lerina incarnata, ♂ . 1. The head, tegulæ, and patagia, with the terminal half of the abdomen are deep crimson. The rest of the body and its appendages are black. The wings are bronzy-green. The insect inhabits Mexico and southern Arizona. "SPLITTERS" AND "LUMPERS" His Every true naturalist is called upon to exercise the faculty of discrimination and the faculty of generalization. His work trains him to detect dissimilarities on the one hand and likenesses on the other. His judgments as to likeness are expressed in the genera, the famiies, the orders, which he proposes. judgment as to dissimilarities is most frequently expressed in his views as to species. When the two faculties of discrimination and generalization are well balanced and accompanied by the habit of patient observation, ideal conditions are reached, and the work of the naturalist in classification may be expected to stand the test of time. But where, as is often the case, one of these faculties is exalted at the expense of the other, there are certain to result perversions, which will inevitably cause trouble to other students. When a man cultivates the habit of discrimination to excess, he is apt to become, so far as his labors as a systematist are concerned, "a splitter." A "splitter" magnifies the importance of trivial details; he regards minute differences with interest; he searches with more than microscopic zeal after the little things and leaves out of sight the lines of general resemblance. Huber, the celebrated naturalist, said that by patient observation he had come to be able to recognize the different ants in a hill, and, as one by one they emerged from their subterranean galleries, he knew them, as a man living upon a certain thoroughfare in a great city comes at last to know by sight the men and women who are in the habit of daily passing his windows. No doubt the critical eye can detect as great individual differences in the lower animal world as are to be detected among men. A student comes to apply himself with great zeal to searching out and describing these differences, and when he undertakes to say that because of them one form should be separated specifically from another he becomes "a splitter." I recall an entomologist whose chief weapon of research was a big microscope. He would take a minute insect and study it until he was able to number the hairs upon its head. Then he would describe it, giving it a specific name. The next |