MR. JOHN B. SMITH'S PAPER ON N. AM. HELIOTHINÆ

Extract

For my part, I am very glad that a plate of tibial structure has at last been published, and by Mr. Smith. It illustrates characters upon which I have long insisted, and is a valuable addition to the present “Synopsis.” The second plate might well have been omitted; it hardly assists the student, and is badly drawn. The “Synopsis” itself is a gratification to me; it is scientifically written so far as the characters it discusses are concerned. Its difference from my own work in its conclusions are more apparent than real. Mr. Smith writes with a critical eye to my shortcomings, and really finds very little to say. He quotes at some length a former statement of mine as to the spinose tibiæ (made ten years ago), which I at once corrected on examining again the small insect under a larger lens. But he excuses other modern writers with worse mistakes to father. In stating the case fairly, he should have said that although Mr. Grote has been the first American to insist on the natural characters of spinose tibiæ, yet once he called the tibiæ unarmed, where they were really spinose, but he promptly corrected the mistake.