Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 45(2). 1991. 176-178

BOOK REVIEWS

LEPIDOPTERORUM CATALOG US (NEW SERIES). FASCICLE 118: NOCTUIDAE. by Robert W. Poole. 1989. E. J. Brill/Flora & Fauna Publications, Leiden, The Netherlands. Distributed by E. J. Brill (USA) Inc .• 24 Hudson Street. Kinderhook. New York 12106 U.S.A .• and Flora & Fauna Books. P.O. Box 15718. Gainesville. Florida 32604 U.S.A. Three volumes. Hard cover. Smythe sewn, 22 x 28 cm. Vol. 1: pages xii and 1-500. Vol. 2: pages 501- 1014. Vol. 3: pages 1015-1341. ISBN 0-916846-45-8. $237.50 U.S.

These three volumes by Poole revive a series of publications that was interrupted in part by World War II. Except for two subfamilies. the Agaristinae and Nolinae. the Noctuidae were not included in the original series. As a catalogue of world-wide coverage. this work is overdue and greatly needed, if for no other reason than that the Noctuidae is the largest family of Lepidoptera and contains many economic species. As stated by John B. Heppner. the Series Editor, "The Noctuidae catalog provides for almost 40% completion of the Lepidopterorum Catalogus series. due merely to the size of the family." It is nice to see a continuation of this series. and because I study the Noctuidae. Poole's catalog is especially welcome. Poole's three volumes on the Noctuidae are nicely bound in cloth with gold foil lettering. The bindings are Smythe sewn. which allows the books to open flat for ease of use. Poole's catalog includes approximately 38.000 species' names. including subspecies and synonyms. He conducted an exhaustive literature search and traveled world wide to visit museums and other repositories while executing the research for this publication. which encompasses all names published through 1985. Lists of Lepidoptera are popular. and. if properly written. worthwhile. By including details such as distributional data. abundance. and flight periods. authors make their published lists more useful. Likewise. literature that provides a bibliographic handle on faunal lists is also helpful. As such. the Lepidopterorum Catalogus series is an important part of my library because it provides these lists from around the world. Poole has done an outstanding job of including abundant information in a useful format. Poole's presentation is different from the format found in the original series. mostly in matters of style. but substantively in the welcome inclusion of references to the biology. larval food plants. and published illustrations of noctuids. It is arranged into five major sections. The introductory sections (Volume 1. pages i-xii) explain the arrangement of the work. tell how to use the catalog and provide sample entries. The main body of the work is the species list (Volumes 1 and 2. pages 1-1014) arranged alphabetically by genus and species. Synonyms of genera are provided in alphabetical order. Synonyms of species are listed under the genus. Poole's genus-species combination for each taxon, as well as the genus-species combination in the original description. can be found in the Index to Species. Although the subfamily for each genus is provided. there are no other indications of evolutionary relationships among genera nor species. Volume 1 begins the list of species with Abablemma bilineata on page 3 and ends with Heraclia pampata on page 500. Volume 2 continues the list of species with Heraclia pardalina on page 501 and concludes the species list with Zutragum likianga on page 1013. Each species account includes the literature citation of the original description, which is cross referenced to the Bibliography. The taxonomic status and systematic status of each name is presented. For example. Claterna submemorans is said to be a synonym of C. cydonia, whereas Cleonymia marocana is introduced not only as a new combination, but also as a name considered to represent a full species. Other relevant information is included. For example: the date for Claterna cydonia is affixed as 1776 because the combination occurs only in the index of the 1776 publication. the type locality (including errors) and the location of the types are provided. and references to larval descriptions and to food plants are given. I especially like the references to illustrations of adults. genitalia. and other useful information. Since Poole does not subscribe to the subspecies concept, subspecies are listed as syn- VOLUME 45, NUMBER 2 177 onyms in the alphabetical species list. For example, Anomis fimbriago is listed as a synonym of A. flava rather than as a subspecies of A. flava. Poole gives no indication that other authors consider A. fimbriago to be a subspecies of A. fiava . Because this situation can be confusing, Poole should have clarified his divergence from other lists. He could have done this by noting that other authoritative lists (e.g., Hodges, Ronald, W. et al. 1983. Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico. E. W. Classey Limited, London, 284 pp.) consider some of Poole's synonyms to be subspecies. Such annotations would have been helpful in clarifying discrepancies between published lists. Poole reported that he did not settle all taxonomic and systematic problems. He resolved these predicaments by grouping species as best as he could and giving appropriate ex­ planations. For example, he lumped all the species of several Herminiinae genera into the genus Polypogon, justifying this action by noting that the dividing lines between the included genera are not well understood, and that further research is needed. In another situation, he used the generic name Polia of authors (in contrast to Polia Ochsenheimer, 1816) to group several unplaced species pending further research. Poole's explanations are straightforward. The Bibliography (Volume 3, pages 1015-1102) provides complete literature references to all the citations for species and generic descriptions. This type of bibliography is useful for verifying spellings, dates, and other details. Immediately following the Bibliography is the alphabetical Index to Species (Volume 3, pages 1103-1313). Each species listing includes the author, the original generic as­ signment, and the combination used in this work. Information pertinent to the taxon's status as a subspecies, variety, or race at the time of the original description is also provided. The dates of the original descriptions are given in cases involving homonyms. The Index to Species should have included the year of the original description. Many authors described several species by the same name in different genera. The year of description can be a useful tool to narrow the search for an entry, especially if the original generic assignment or the combination used by Poole is unknown. For example, Hampson described five different species as disticta. To locate disttcta Hampson, 1926, I was forced to look up five separate entries. If the year had been included in the Index to Species, I could have quickly determined that only one entry, instead of five potential entries, was the target. The work concludes (Volume 3, page 1314) with a list of 96 New Objective Replacement Names for species and one New Objective Replacement Name for a genus. These names are provided to straighten out taxonomic problems. The greatest shortcoming of this work is the omission of many form, variety, and aberration names, which Poole refers to as "the hemorrhoids of systematics." Although his assessment may be correct, I do not always recognize each and every form, varietal, and aberrational name as such. Additionally, form, varietal, and aberrational names are important to collectors of some groups, such as Catocala. Poole could have used this opportunity to educate me and others. In some descriptions, the full context of the text is a useful tool to determine if the name is available or represents a form, variety, or aberration. A researcher may be required to interpret an author's intention in proposing a new name. By not including form, varietal, or aberrational names, Poole makes it impossible to determine whether such names fall under his definition of hemorrhoids or are errors of omission. I would have preferred that such names be included with appro­ priate explanation so that I could fully understand why a name is available or is not available. I personally experienced the usefulness of this catalog during preparation of a mono­ graph on the Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) of Ohio. The laborious task of researching correct generic assignments, spellings, and dates of original descriptions would have been nearly im possible without Poole's catalog, which served as an indispensable reference that allowed me to accomplish this objective. I cross checked the spellings of many taxa from the Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico (Hodges et al. 1983, op. cit.) with Poole's catalog. When a discrepancy was found, I was able to use Poole's catalog to locate the original description and verify the correct spelling. This work is not without error. Expectations of perfection for a monumental work such 178 JOURNAL OF THE LEPIDOPTERISTS' SOCIETY as this would be folly. I did find a couple of minor errors while conducting my research. For example, Poole states that the primary type of Paectes delineata is in the BMNH, London, whereas Mr. Martin R. Honey (in litt., 1989) states that the type is not at the Natural History Museum. In another situation, Poole omits the fact that Agrotis texanus is a synonym of Agrotis segetum. Poole's Noctuidae should be an important part of any serious lepidopterist's resources, not only as a check list, but also as a bibliography and as an example of how such a work should be prepared. Although the high price may limit individual purchases, library copies should be available. Poole should be thanked by the entire Lepidoptera community for successfully completing this monumental work.

ERIC H. METZLER, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 1952 Belcher Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43224.

Journal of the Lepidopterists' SOciety 45(2), 1991, 178-179

CATALOGUE OF FAMILy-GROUP AND GENUS-GROUP NAMES (LEPIDOPTERA: RHOPALO­ CERA), by Charles A. Bridges. 1988 (2nd ed.). Published and distributed by the author, 502 W. Main Street, Apt. 308, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. 390 pp.: vi; ii + 8 (I); ii + 3 (II); ii + 4 (III); ii + 141 (IV); ii + 33 (V); ii + 68 (VI); ii + 18 (VII); ii + 61 (VIII); ii + 20 (IX); ii + 8 (X). Hard cover, 22 x 28.5 em, no ISBN, $60.00 in North America, $62.50 elsewhere (postpaid).

CATALOGUE OF PAPILIONIDAE & PIERIDAE (LEPIDOPTERA: RHOPALOCERA), by Charles A. Bridges. 1988. Published and distributed by the author, 502 W. Main Street, Apt. 308, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. 737 pp.: vii; ii + 324 (I); ii + 93 (II); ii + 131 (III); ii + 98 (IV); ii + 37 (V); ii + 12 (VI); ii + 1 (AI); ii + 4 (A2); plus 14 pp. of appended annotations. Hard cover, 22 x 28 em, no ISBN, $85.00 in North America, $87.50 elsewhere (postpaid).

Charles Bridges has embarked on a monumental task: that of assembling all published names of butterflies and skippers, evaluating their status, and publishing them with supporting documentation in a series of cross-referenced catalogs. To date, five volumes have been published: three treat species-group names, one treats family and generic names, and the fifth is a bibliography. All five volumes are sturdily bound in hard cover and are printed on 8% x 11 inch paper. The two volumes reviewed here treat, respectively, names used in the higher classifi­ cation of butterflies and skippers, and the names of species, subspecies, varieties, and forms in two families of butterflies: Papilionidae and Pieridae. Previously reviewed in the journal of the Lepidopterists' Society are Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae. Notes on Species-Group Names (1983; reviewed by Lee D. Miller in jLS 39:51, 1985) and Cat­ alogue of Lycaenidae & Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) (1988; reviewed by Donald J. Harvey in jLS 43:250-251, 1989). The Hesperiidae volume has been revised and the second edition was published in 1988 as Catalogue of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera), a 6-part compendium of 461 pages that treats 9327 species-group names (it is available in hard cover from the author for $70.00 in North America and $72.50 elsewhere, postpaid). That leaves the nymphalids as the only group not yet covered. Bridges is working on a catalog of the huge superfamily Nymphaloidea, but its completion is years away. The fifth published volume in this series is the Bibliography (576 pages; $75.00 in North America and $77.50 elsewhere, postpaid), which lists 19,407 publications and is the most comprehensive compilation of butterfly literature published in this century. Even so, Bridges is the first to admit its shortcomings-it is not exhaustive (it was compiled by listing every paper Bridges encountered during his work on the other four volumes, and thus it leaves out much of the literature on the Nymphaloidea and is heavily biased toward taxonomic papers) and it has never been rigorously edited (resulting in quite a few errors and duplications).