POLENTA, SCOLECOCAMPA AND EUCALYPTERA

Extract

In my synopsis of the genera of the Noctudiœ I placed Polenta, Morr., in a section with the anterior tibia unarmed at tip, and Eucalyptera, Morr., I retained as distinct from Scolecocampa, Gn., the genera coming into different sections by the form of the palpi, and no particular comparisons being made, because I considered the genera so widely distinct that there was no possible chance of confounding them. On this account I have been criticised by Mr. Grote, and attention has been called in the case of Polenta to the fact that a specimen in Mr. Neumoegen's collection had a claw terminating the anterior tibia, and that, therefore, I had inexcusably overlooked an important and obvious structural character. With all due deference to Mr. Grote, I think the mistake is not on my side; of Polenta I saw Mr. Morrison's type and three other specimens; these I carefully re-examined, after reading Mr. Grote's strictures, and not a single one of the specimens has any trace of armature at the tip of the anterior tibia. That Mr. Grote has seen a claw terminating the anterior tibia of an insect labelled Polenta Tepperi, Morr., it would be folly for me to dispute. That the insect is correctly determined I may be permitted to doubt, for it is scarcely possible that on all of the specimens I have examined the claw was so broken off as to leave no trace. I believe, therefore, that I was right, and that Mr. Morrison's generic diagnosis in this particular was correct.