Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 1 (1791).djvu/98

Linneus himself appears to have been unacquainted with the female Mendica; and the specimen of the male in his cabinet being a bad one, with the black spots obliterated, he describes it, cinerea tota, femoribus luteis. This however is not the case; for the male is spotted like the female, as may be seen in the drawing, fig. 3. 6. There is indeed a bad specimen of the female of this moth in his cabinet; but it is placed indiscriminately with Lubricipeda and Erminea. I have endeavoured to give to each the synonyms quoted by Linneus; to which I have added many that have been published since his work was printed, omitting several that appeared only copies of Linneus. But even to them I am under some obligation, as they have referred me to synonyms which others had overlooked. As the similarity of the colour in the bodies of the two first species appears to have been the occasion of their having been placed together, I have added another (vide fig. 4.), and named it Papyratia, exactly agreeing with them in that particular, although perfectly distinct, as the larva and mode of living testify. This moth is more rare than either of the others, and I find but one figure of it, which is in Albin, and well executed. As almost every author who has given figures of the two first insects in their different states, makes them distinct species, it may with some propriety be asked, where is the necessity of adducing further proof on the subject? The necessity will appear evident, when we confider, that as the Systema Naturæ and Fauna Suecica of Linneus, and Syst. Ent. of Fabricius, the most valuable and useful scientific books, agree in uniting them, and quote such respectable authority as Reaumur and De Geer; and as I am ignorant of any specific descriptions having been given, it appears absolutely necessary for the young entomologist to have them separated and clearly distinguished; and the more so, as Ernst, in his admirable work, Papillons d'Europe, after having

taken