European Fauna Research Articles

THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF PEDILOPHORUS

The Byrrhidæ of this continent have received a comparatively small share of attention at the hands of systematists for many years, so that it is not at all surprising to find novelties among recently-collected material. Two new forms of the genus Pedilophorus have recently been detected among the accumulations in my cabinet, both of them from the west; no doubt still others remain to reward explorers of the mountain ranges and of the northern districts. The European fauna contains ten species, while but four were previously known from North America.

Scharff's History of the European Fauna

Next article FreeScharff's History of the European FaunaLeonhard StejnegerLeonhard Stejneger Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 35, Number 410Feb., 1901 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/277872 Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Lesya Baudoin, David Sapinho, Abdelghani Maddi, Luis Miotti Scientometric analysis of the term 'microbiota' in research publications (1999–2017): a second youth of a century-old concept, FEMS Microbiology Letters 366, no.1212 (Jun 2019).https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnz138Kathleen Donohue The Snail’s Charm, The American Naturalist 193, no.22 (Dec 2018): 149–163.https://doi.org/10.1086/700960Ignacio Ferro, Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza, Juan J. Morrone Biogeographical transitions in the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico, shown by chorological and evolutionary biogeographical affinities of passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes), Journal of Biogeography 44, no.99 (Apr 2017): 2145–2160.https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13015

ON THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF CHOREUTIS AND ITS ALLIES

About fifteen years ago I obtained from Dr. O. Staudinger a series of all the species placed under the Choreutidæ in his Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the European Fauna (1871), and made a critical study of their structure to aid in the arrangement of our North American species. This study also led me to look up the nomenclature of these insects, and the results are given in this paper.There has been a growing tendency for some time to use the generic names proposed by Hübner, and while at first I was not inclined to adopt the genera in his Tentamen, I now feel compelled to do so. It is not necessary to argue this question, since both sides were so ably presented years ago in this journal.

The History of the European Fauna

THE title that we have chosen for this review of Dr. Scharff's volume is really rather more expressive of the scope of the book than is his own title. For he deals at greater length with the fauna of our own country than with that of Europe in general. This is by no means a defect to be urged in considering his statements and arguments; on the contrary, we think that it will add to the interest of the book; and besides Great Britain has a fauna which practically only differs from that of adjacent parts of Europe in its poverty. The reduction of the number of individuals and of species of indigenous creatures was set down by Mr. Wallace to the recent glaciation of these islands, which, occurring, as it was supposed to do, after the land connection with Europe had been broken through, destroyed many forms coming originally from more southern regions. The severance of the land connections hindered a repopulation when more favourable climatic conditions were reestablished. Dr. Scharff is one of those who do not believe in great possibilities of migration over stretches of sea for purely terrestrial animals. There are of course such cases on record; but they are really not numerous. Dr. Scharff mentions several that are of recent occurrence. He tells us that Colonel Fielden, when in the Barbadoes, witnessed, or heard of, the arrival of an alligator which must have traversed a tract of ocean of 250 miles. There are also well-known experiments which show that animals might be imported in a natural way from distant and transpontine countries. The resistance of certain snails and other molluscs to the effects of sea-water when guarded by their diaphragm has been proved by the classical experiments of Darwin. It is, however, disappointing to learn from Dr. Scharff how dangerous it is to argue from experiments which can so readily be made to the actual phenomena of nature. The History of the European Fauna. By R. F. Scharff Pp. vii + 364; illustrated. (London: Walter Scott, Ltd., 1899.)

The history of the European fauna. By R. F. Scharff, B.Sc., Ph.D. keeper of the Natural History Collections, Science and Art Museum, Dublin. Contempt. Sci. Series. London: W. Scott, Ltd., 1899

<i>The history of the European fauna</i>. By R. F. S<scp>charff</scp>, B.Sc., Ph.D. keeper of the Natural History Collections, Science and Art Museum, Dublin. Contempt. Sci. Series. London: W. Scott, Ltd., 1899

III.—The History of the European Fauna. By R. F. Scharff, B.Sc, Ph.D., F.Z.S. 8vo; pp. i—viii, 364, with 21 illustrations. (London: Walter Scott, 1899. Price 6s.)

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I.—On the Origin of the European Fauna. By R. F. Scharff, Ph.D., B.Sc, F.Z.S., Keeper of the Natural History Collections in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 3rd ser, vol. iv, No. 3, 1897, pp. 427–514. 8vo. (Dublin, 1897.)

I.—On the Origin of the European Fauna. By R. F. Scharff, Ph.D., B.Sc, F.Z.S., Keeper of the Natural History Collections in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 3rd ser, vol. iv, No. 3, 1897, pp. 427–514. 8vo. (Dublin, 1897.)

NOTES UPON THE NORTH AMERICAN SATURNINA, WITH LIST OF THE SPECIES

Of the three families of Saturnina found in North America, only the Saturnidæ occurs in the European fauna. Conversely no analogue of the European Aglia tau* has been found in America. In a very interesting paper, Ann. Mag. N. Hist., Vol. XI., 1893, Dr. Packard says of this species: “Aglia appears to be a Ceratocampid in its earlier larval stages, the caterpillar in its final stage, however, and the moth being closely related to the Saturnians”. This being so, it is clear that Aglia cannot be classed as a subfamily of Cithernidœ, from which the habit and struture of the moth and the mde of pupation seem to exclude it.

DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITES FROM WATER BEETLES

I can find no record of the breeding of Hymenopterous parasites from water beetles, in either the European or American faunas, and it is, therefore, with considerable pleasure that I here describe two distinct species of Hymenopterous insects, reared from water beetles by Mr. H. F. Wickham, of Iowa City, Iowa, belonging in genera not yet reported as occurring in our fauna.

IV. Notes on Hydroptilidæbelonging to the European Fauna, with descriptions of new species.

IV. <i>Notes on</i> Hydroptilidæ<i>belonging to the European Fauna, with descriptions of new species.</i>

A Synonymic Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera (Moths)

THE publication of the first volume of Mr. Kirby's Catalogue of Heterocera cannot fail to be regarded as a great event amongst students of exotic moths, and should mark an epoch from which is to commence the great work of reducing the vast amount of material they have to deal with to some kind of system and order, from the state of chaos produced by the greater number of those who have taken up the subject continuing to describe innumerable species, forms, and varieties, without any systematic study or attempt to define the limits of the families and genera they placed them in. So vast and scattered was the literature on the subject that it was almost hopeless to attempt to discover even how many species had been described in any given genus, or to say with any certainty that the forms to be dealt with had not been described by other authors; and if the subject in hand was the study of a local fauna, and not the monographing of a group, the only plan it was possible to adopt was to place the species in approximately the right genus and trust more or less to chance, according to the availability of large collections for consultation, that they had not been described elsewhere. Students will now have no such excuse for inexact work, and, up to the end of the numerous and very remotely connected groups of families known as the Bombyces, will have a complete and easily consulted catalogue of all described species, with the localities they come from, so that they will be able to see at a glance to which species the forms they are trying to identify are most likely to belong, and having full references to the books in which they are described their labours will be lightened by almost half, as students of the European fauna who have had Staudinger's catalogue to help them will fully appreciate. No one but Mr. Kirby who has lived his life among the books on the subject, and has been collecting his materials for the last twenty years, as he tells us in his preface, could have made the catalogue as complete as he has done, and though it is of course impossible that such a volume could have been put together without a few errors and omissions creeping in, yet some months of work with the advantage of being constantly able to borrow the proof sheets has shown how extremely few these are.

VI. On the classification of the European fauna.

Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of LondonVolume 40, Issue 1 p. 53-124 VI. On the classification of the European fauna. Edward Meyrick B.A., F.Z.S., Edward Meyrick B.A., F.Z.S.Search for more papers by this author Edward Meyrick B.A., F.Z.S., Edward Meyrick B.A., F.Z.S.Search for more papers by this author First published: March 1892 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1892.tb03048.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume40, Issue1March 1892Pages 53-124 RelatedInformation

Societies and Academies

Societies and Academies

ON SO-CALLED REPRESENTATIVE SPECIES

The species of our insects having near allies in the better known or earlier known European fauna, have called “representative” by the elder Agassiz. And this term would be sufficiently exact and useful did we not associate with it the somewhat metaphysical sense, that these forms were separately created and owe their resemblance to the arbitrary will of the Creator.

A Monographic Revision and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the European Fauna

MOST persons have seen those curious aquatic insects called caddis-worms, which live at the bottom of the water, protected by tubular cases formed of bits of stick, stones, sand, or shells, and are much used as bait by anglers; being, as Izaak Walton remarked, “a choice bait for the chub or chavender, or indeed for any great fish.” It is also generally known that these caddis-worms are the larvæ or grubs of winged insects, known as caddis-flies or water-moths, which abound in the vicinity of rivers or ponds and often fly into houses attracted by the light; but few persons except entomologists are aware that there are nearly a hundred and fifty different species in the British Isles, while between four and five hundred are known from various parts of Europe—that they constitute a distinct order of insects, named “Trichoptera,” from their hairy wings—and that they possess peculiarities of structure of the greatest interest as serving to connect, however imperfectly, such distinct and highly specialised orders, as the Hymenoptera and the Lepidoptera. A Monographic Revision and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the European Fauna. By Robert McLachlan., &c. (London: Van Voorst, 1874–1880.)

V.—The Migration of Species as related to the Correlation of Geological Formations

The topic of this paper is suggested by a somewhat extended practical study of the fossils of North America. A comparison of these forms with our European faunas will, I think, throw some light upon migration, and upon the correlation of strata.

III.—On the Occurrence of a Recent Species of Trigonia (T. Lamarckii) in Tertiary Deposits in Australia

In No. VI. of the “Quarterly Journal of Science” I gave a brief account of the Trigonia semiundulata, M'Coy, MS., which has been found in certain Tertiary strata in the Colonies of Victoria and South Austraila, and which had been named, but not described, by Professor M'Coy. This species differs altogether from the recent forms, and approaches very closely in its essential characters to the members of the group “costata”, characteristic of the Oolites. It was therefore remarked, in the communication referred to, that its occurrence in Tertiary strata in Australia added another link to the chain of evidence which connects the recent fauna of that region with the Oolitic fauna of Europe. But doubt may be expressed as to the exact value to be assigned to this similarity in facies between two faunæ so widely separated in time; and it is a fair question whether the discovery of this Trigonia does not diminish, rather than add to the apparent peculiarity of the existing Australian fauna.