Iks^c:^ ENTOMOLOGIST'S RECORD AND JOURNAL OF VARIATION, Edited by J. V7. TUTT, F.E.S. VOL. VL, JANUAEY TO AUGUST, 1895. PRICE 7s. 6d, Special Index, Is. LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C. BERLIN : R. FRIEDLANDER & SOHN, 11, Carlstrasse, N.W. AMERICA: PH HEINSBERGER, 9, First Avenue, New York, US. A. PREFACE TO VOL VI. On the completion of our sixth vohime, we again tender our heartiest thanks both to our subscribers and to our contributors, for their continued support and encouragement. Nothwithstanding the increased frequency of publication, we have found it impossible to prevent the accumulation of material at a rate in excess of our power of using it. This is not an unmixed evil, for it has relieved us of the difficulty, that existed not many years ago, of obtain- ing a sufficiency of interesting matter wherewith to fill our entomological magazines. At the same time, it points to the necessity for a continu- ance of the policy of completing a volume in eight months. Accordingly, we have to announce that the twelve numbers of the ensuing volume will be published on the following dates: — Sept. 15th, Oct. 15th, Nov. Ist and 15th, Dec. 1st and 15th, Jan. 15th, Feb. Ist and 15th, March 1st and 15th, April 15th. We have taken a new dejoarture in the volume now completed, by giving to the first article in each number somewhat more of a popular character. The echoes of approval that have reached us, show that this practice has been widely appreciated by our readers. The special line that we have taken in dealing with the philosophical questions that underlie the study of entomology, as well as the publication month by month of short notes of the more important matters of interest to British workers published elsewhere, have un- doubtedly led to a much wider and more general recognition of the fundamental principles underlying entomology as a science, and have induced a large number of the younger workers to fall into line with the advanced scientific thought that characterises the last decade of the PBEFACE. present century. The steady spread of our Magazine among collectors, shows that they appreciate our attempt to reduce everything we print into words that may be understanded of the people, and to present our subject without the mystifying verbiage in which some i)eoi)le wrap what is called science. We would again appeal to our readers to be also contributors to our pages. Many a collector observes facts which if recorded in print will be of value to the pi'ogress of entomological science, whilst, if not so recorded, they bear no fruit. General notes on the rearing of larva?, on food-plants which larva? will take to in caj^tivity, on the varying treatment which different larva? require when the time for pupation arrives, on the management of hybernating larvae, and a host of other similar matters, are points on which many of our readers must have information to impart, that will be of considerable interest to their brethren. The Special Index to this volume is in a forward state of preparation. The intervention of the holidays will, however, delay its 2)ublication till September or October. We can only in conclusion renew our thanks to all our subscribers and well-wishers, and ask them, whenever practicable, to introduce the magazine to the notice of their friends, and to see that a cop}' is placed on the table of every Public Library in the United Kingdom. To our foreign subscribers we also offer our best thanks, and can only hope that there has been enough of general scientific interest con- tained in our pages, to induce them to continue their support, and to extend the knowledge of our magazine whenever opportunity offers. .:::(^ «3 C' "^i:::. ■■;;:f» ->.. . c- ^:::'' CONTENTS OF VOLUME VL N.B. — (C.N.) after an entry implies that the suhject is to be found in Current Notes. PAGE Current Notes U, 30, 54, 89, 112, Ul, 153, 190, 232, 288 Notes on Collecting 16, 40, 56, 91, 114, 158, 210, 234, 262, 289 Practical Hints 45, 113, 157, 210, 262 Reviews and Notices of Books ... .. ... ... 45, 69, 118, 159, 244 Scientific Notes and Observ.\tions... 32, 83, 107, 138, 152, 188, 204, 255, 28ti Societies 18, 58, 119, 143, 163, 215, 240, 263, 290 Variation ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15 Above Lake Bourget ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 169 .4c7ie7-owiia aii'opos on the Continent (C.N.) ... ... ... ... ... ...55 Acidalia Mimiliata -And A. dilutaria, ^ynonynuc'Notes on ... ... ... 131 jlcridii'dae, Method of oviposition in the (C.N.) ... ... ... ... 157 Additions to the Britisli List: — Alenrodes proleteUa, 156; Andrena amhigua, 142; Halictus angiisticeps, 142; Hydroj^liila tigurina, 234; OtiorrJiyncus auropundatus, 259: Oxyethira frici, 234; Pimpla hridgmani, 18; Praon ahsinthii, IS ; 8cio'ptery'a, On ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 158 Butterfly Pupae, Notes on, etc. (with Plate) 101, 125, 147 Caraclrina, The British Representatives of the Genus .. ... ... 198, 223 Caradrina amhigua from Sandown, 22 ; Occurrence of, in the Isle of Wight, 42; and C. sitpersitis, Notes on ... ... ... ... ... ... ...53 CafocaZa mtpta ten months in pupa ... ... ... ... ... ... ...33 C/taricZea !(?n!;r«, On Breeding... ... ... ... ... ... ... 153 Cleaning Coleoptera, Caustic Potash for, (C.N.) 55 Coleoptera at Ipswich in 1894 ... ... ... ... ... ... 114 Colias ednsa at Teneriffe (C.N.), 208 ; at Wimbledon, 262 ; var. hclicc at Clifton 16 Collecting Noctuida5 by Lake Erie (with portrait of author) 97,121 Colours, Discussion on the nature of certain insect 35, 83, 107, 138, 204, 255 Corrections (see Errata) Cure for Mites, A ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4,', Denizens of an old Cherry Tree (C.N.) ... ... ... ... ... ... 8y Development of Pigment in .N'tjHi.o^uw /iuuw. On the 257 CONTENTS. V. PAGE Dicraniira bifida ab. atu-ata, New variety, 15 ; D. vinula, Strange Behaviour of a larva of 158 Disappearance of Lepidoptera from South-Eastern London and its neighbour- iiood, On tlie gradual ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 228 Discussion on the nature of certain insect colours 35, 83 107, 138, 204, 250 Doncaster, Some Varieties of Nocru.i: from ... 255 Earl}' Appearances ... ... ... ... 210 Editorial Notice ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 Egg-Life, Perils of 32 Eggs of J3o»!6i/,v 7-((.bi " ichneumoned " ... ... .. ... 33 £?ac/usfa cer!!.sseZ/a, Food-plant of early brood of (C.N.) ... ... ... ... 259 Elytra of the Coleoptera, The Homology of the (CN.) 153 Entomologists' Daily Post-Card (C.N.) 192 £p/icsfia fcwc/ime??a, Development of testicle in (C.N.) ... ... 288 Erebia epipliron var. cassiope in Ireland (C.N.) ... ... ... ... ... 155 Erie, Lake, Collecting Noctuidae by (with portrait of authoi') ... ... 97, 121 Errata . . .. 153, 240 Eadryas Stae-Johannis ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 249 E.xchange Baskets, Notes from the ... 16, 44, 56, 91, 159, 210, 234, 263, 289 Food-Plants, Some unusual, 33 ; of Gortyna ochracea ... ... ... ... 289 Food-plant of T anessa io, Wild Hop a ... ... ... ... ... ... 289 Fossil TipuUdae ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 35 Frenulum of the British Species of S^iCj-i'ni/iHS, The ... ... ... ... 256 Generic Names in the NocTuiD.K, 27, 77; Preoccupied, in the Lepidoptera... 189 Genus CaiaJctnrt, The British representatives of the ... ... ... 198, 223 Genus S»(ei-mi/n(s, The ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 173 Glimpses of American Entomology ... ... ... 1 59 Go)%na oc/t)-acea. Food-plants of ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 289 Hadona dissimilis, 'Notes on ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 33 Hadenoid genera with liairy eyes. The ... ... 283 Hawk motlis, A hint for breeders of ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,57 //epia'Ks /u«HH7i', etc., in Ireland (C.N.) ... ... ... ... ... 141, 238 Hop, Wild, a Food-plant of Fa«essa 10 ... ... ... ... 289 How far off can the male of a "sembling" moth detect the female? (C.N.) ... 261 How foreign importations may be sui)posed to be British (C.N.) 258 Hunt for Phovodcsma smaragdaria, A ... ... ... ... ... 158, 237 Hunt for the April Spangle Gall, A 245 Hybrids of Smerintlius oceUatus (female) and Paonias astylus (male) (C.N.) ... 31 Hybridism ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 Insects, Vision of, 15 ; (C.N.)... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 90 Jris (with portrait of author) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 145 Isle of Man, Notes from the ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 262 Keswick and district, Macro-lepidopt era taken in ... ... ... ... 276 Larva, on the management of the newly-hatched ... ... ... ... 262 Larvae, About, 1; of Vanessa urticae in Yorkshii'e ... ... ... ... 289 iasiocoiupa ih'c7/o/ia at Cannock Chase ... ... ... ... ... 237 238 Lepidoptera in tiie Cheltenham district, 239 ; taken and bred in the Swansea district in 1893, 40; at Skipwith in 1894 I55 Lepidopterist, Eetrospect of a, for 1894 ... ... ... ... 8 Life History, The, of a lepidopterous insect ... ... ... ... 4 81 Linoleum as a substitute for cork ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 113 Lithosia lutarelhi and its -var. piygmaeoJa, Notes on the habits and variation of 217 Mites, A cure for ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 45 Morning at liourg St. Maurice, A ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 49 iVt'))ico6u(s ?(. Neunioegen, 191; J. 11, Wellman, 56; F. Buchanan While 56 yi. CONTENTS. PAGE Ocneria ciisjjar, Parthenogenesis in 152 On the prowl ••• ■•■ •.•• ^'°^ Orrhodia crythrocephala var. glabra, Notes on a specimen of, recently taken in Devonshire... ■•• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••■ ^^ Parthenogenesis in Bomhyx quercus (C.N.) 209 ; in Ocyieria dispar, 152 ; in Taleporia homhycella ... ... ■■■ ••• ••• ••• ■•• ••• 89 Perils of egg-life 32 Phorodesma smaragdaria, How to get larva; of (C.N.) 154 ; A hunt for 158, 237 Phytophagic species HI Pigment, On the development of, in N^ijoteobuis iucma 257 P/((.sia 7)ioneta at Bromley 289 Polygamy and polyandry in moths 33 Polyporous tablets (C.N.) 258 Portraits :— Prof. A. Eadcliffe Grote, M.A., 97; Rev. G. M. A. Hewett, M.A. 145 Pre-occupied generic names in the Lepidoptera, 189; names and genera in the Micro-lepidoptera (C.N.) 142 Processionary caterpillar of the pine, Habits of (C.N.) 259 Psi/c7ie, The British species of the genus, and its allies (C.N.) 14 Fyschidae, On the method of pairing among the (C.N.) 155 ; (C.N.) 208 Pupa-hunting in October, A day's 25 Pupje, Notes on butterfly, etc. (with Plate) 101,125,147 Pupa?, Notes on : — Castnia,28Q; Antlwcharis helia and A. ausonia 288 Relaxation, A rhyme of 23 Relaxing and setting insects (C.N.) 142 iietima resineHa in Aberdeenshire (C.N.) 56 Retrospect of a Lepidopterist for 1894 8 Reviews and Notices of Books, Etc : — Abstract of Proceedings of the South London Entomological and Natural History Society for the year 1894 267 Aculeate-Hymenoptera, The, of Guernsey, W. A. Luflf 260 L' Ami des Sciences Naturelles (C.N.) 234 Butterflies and Moths (British), W. Eurneaux, F.R.G.S 45 Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Super-family Noctuidae found in Boreal America, J. B. Smith, Sc. D 69 Entomologisk Tidskrift, 1 894 162 Handbook to the British Macro-Lepidoptera, B. G. Rye, F.E.S 118 London Catalogue of British plants (9th edition), E. J. Hanbury, F.E.S. 267 Nature in Acadie, H. K. Swann 267 Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario ... 159 Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, E. Step .. 244 Sale of the late Mr. Machin's Macro-Lepidoptera, The 134 Season, Notes of the (1894) 16, 18, 43, 44, 56, 91, 112, 114, 210, 239; (1895) 236 Sex in social insects. On the development of 193 Sexual characters. Secondary 86 Smerinthus, The genus, 173; the frenulum of the British species of 256 Social insects, On the development of sex in 193 Sp/iiw5fictae, The structural affinities of the (C.N.) 153 Societies * Birmingham Entomological Society 20, 58, 144, 244, 264 291 City of London Entomological and Natural History Society, 21, 58, 120, 144, 166, 291 Entomological Society of London 18, 119, 163, 215, 24C, 263 Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society . ... 120, 144, 264 North London Natural History Society ... 119, 144, 164, 243, 264, 290 Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society ... ... 265 South London Entomological and Natural History Society, 20, 58, 143, 242, 263 Spring notes 236 Steganopti/c/ia pygrnoeana. The way to capture (C.N.) ... ... 233 Strange behaviour of a larva of Dicrawitra mwM?a ... ... ... ... 158 Structure of Nervures (C.N.) 289 Super- family names. On a uniform terminal for ... 258 Synonymic notes on -4ctdaiia /(MHiiHato and J., di/iifana... ... ... ... 131 Tacmocampa mimosa, On rearing the larvae of 210 CONTENTS. vii. PAQE Testicle, Development of, in E^p/iestia fcue?imena (C.N.) ... ... ... ... 288 Tipulidae Fossil ... ... ... ... ... •.. ••• ••• ••• 35 Uniform terminal for Super-family names, On a 258 Unusual Food-plants, Some ... ... ... ... •■• ... ••• •■• 33 Vandalism, An act of ... ... ••• ••• ••• 95 Variation considered biologically ... ... ...181 Varieties: — Agrotis segetmn, 15; Dicranura bifida, 15; Argynnis selene (with illustration), 269 ; of Noctu.e from Doncaster 250 Vision of insects, 15 ; (C.N.) . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 90 Where are butterflies to be found on rainy days? (C.N.) .32 Wing structure, on ... ... ■•. ••. 161, 188 Winter's stroll. An early 73 Zygaena minos, Notes on ... ... ... ... ... ... ••. ••. 270 LIST OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS. Plate 1. — The Life-History of Aplwmia socieUa, No. 4; description of plate ... 76 Plate 2. — Butterfly pupse. No. 6 ; description of plate 131 Woodcut. — Termites 268 Woodcut. — Varieties of Argynnis selene ... ... ... ... ... ■.• 269 Photograph of Prof. A. E. Grote, M. A 97 „ „ Eev. G. M. A. Hewett, M.A 146 PAPERS AND COMMUNICATIONS BEAD BEFORE SOCIETIES. Birmingham Entomological Society: — The growth of mimetic patterns in butterflies. Dr. F. A. Dixey 144 City of London Entomological and Natural History Society : A rhyme of relaxation, J. S. Sequeira, M.E..C.S. ... ... 23 Address bv the Vice-President r J. W. Tutt, F.E.S.] 59 Development of Sex in Social Insects, J. W. Tutt, F.E.S 193 Carodema aiubigita from Sandown, L. B. Prout, F.E.S. ... ... ... 22 Conversazione (Feb. 5th, 1895), Description of ... ... ... ... 166 Lepidoptera at Charmouth in the autumn of, 1894, A. U. Battley ... 58 London Fauna List, Completion of, as regards Coleoptera... ... ... 168 Notes on Butterflv pup?e, with some remarks on the phylogenesis of the Khopalocera'(with plate), T. A. Chapman, M.D., F.E.S. 101, 125, 147 The British representatives of the genus Caradrina, L. B. Prout, F.E.S 198, 223 The genus Smecmi/uts, A. Bacot ... ... ... ... 173 Entomological Society of London : — Address by the President [H. J. Elwes, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S.] 119 Discussion on geographical distribution ... ... ... 163 Entomological queries bearing on the question of specific stability, F. Galton, F.E.S 241 Notes on larvaj of HeHoi/iis pe?lack Park, and to which cases no male imago had access; liut I cannot tind the memorandum I made at the time, and so will not be positive." 6 THE ENTCMOLOGIST S KECORD. Mr. Newman {Entom., vol. ii., p. 28) writes : — " lu my little pamphlet on Physiological Classification, I gave a number of instances in which female insects had produced fertile eggs, and even living young, without the possibility of having had previous access to males of the same species : these were all cited from works of the most eminent naturalists of the Continent, and are entirely trustworthy : but still there is something in all records that makes you think, if not to say, * I should like to try that experiment myself.' In my own instance, this opportunity has been afforded. In one of my breeding-cages were placed three full-fed larvae of Nyssia pilosaria, they soon became pupae : and at the end of February and beginning of March three females emerged ; they continued very quietly on the sides of the cage during the day, but at night amused themselves with busily perambulating some fallen and withered leaves, and with inserting their telescope-like ovipositors into every cranny and crevice they could find. Of course I suppose they were laying eggs, and still suppose so, but of this I cannot be sure. However, on Sunday, the 17th of April, I found the cage positively swarming with minute loopers, which bearing in mind as I did the three female pilosaria, I concluded at once to be juveniles of that species. A fortnight has elapsed, and there is now no doubt on the subject ; they have been feedmg on birch, which, if it shared my feelings, was anxiously expecting the emergence of a brood of Endromis versicolor, certain twigs embossed with the eggs of that species having been deftly affixed to the twigs of birch provided for their sustenance. The pilosaria, now a fortnight old, are rather restless, wandering frequently off their food plant, and reminding one forcibly of Japhet in search of a father. Still the fact, as here narrated, is amply sufficient to prove that the union of the sexes in this particular species is not absohitely essential to the production of abundant and vigorous progeny : whether they arrive at maturity remains to be seen." At a later date {I.e. p. 254) Mr. Newman writes: — "Referring to my memorandum at p. 28 of the Entom ologisf, I have to state that the larvae of Nyssia pilosaria, which I then described as having been pi'oduced from a virgin female, acquired the full larval stature of the species, and in due time became pupae : but here ends their history : they have exhibited no indication of life since jnipation : the exjDeriment has therefore failed as an instance of continuous agamous generation." Mr. A. E. Eaton records an instance in Or(jyia. antiqua (Entom., vol. iii., p. 104) : — " The details of this case were communicated to me by a friend, who has satisfied me that perfect isolation from the male was maintained throughout. First ijeneraiion : — From a pupa found at Venn Hall, Sherborne, Dorset, in the autumn of 1864, a female imago emerged, which laid eggs. Second generation -.--Oi the above- mentioned eggs ten hatclied in the spring of 1805, but of these larvae one onl}', the largest from the first, came to maturity ; this i)roduced a female which laid eggs. Third generation : — Five larvae from these eggs attained the pupal state of development, and one of them produced a female imago by the middle of October. The series is, therefore, incomplete." Another species in which parthenogenesis has been observed is Sphinx liijuxtri. Mr. A. P. Nix of Truro, states {Entom., vol. iv., p. 323) that he " had some eggs from a bred female of Sphinx litjnstri: she had no intercourse with a male but the eggs have all hatched." Mr. Clogg THE LiFE-niSTOltY OB* A LBPlDOPTEKOUS INSECT. i ^vl•ites from East Looe on July 12tli, 1871, as follows (Eidom., vol. v., pp. 356-7): — " Whether the following fact concerning SjJiinx liijastri is new or not I cannot say, it appears so strange to me that I think it worth sending to you. This year I have bred a female »S'. Uijmtri, and not wanting her as a specimen 1 allowed lier to remain in the breeding-cage for some days, during which she laid many eggs on the net covering the cage. I thouglit, of course, that they would be imfruitful ; but, nnich to my surprise, after a time young catcr})illars liegan to make their appearance ; and although the eggs were all laid during one night, they continued to emerge from the 2nd to the (5th of July. I have now nearly fifty of them ; they have grown already to nearly three times their size wlien they were born. Being certain tiiat a male was never near the female that produced the eggs, I am quite at a loss to know how and when the eggs could have been fertilized ; in fact, I am perfectly puzzled to account for it in any way." The tale is continued by Mr. T. Brown of (Jand)ridge (Enioin., vol. v., p. 31)5) who under date of August 18th, 1871, writes :—" Three weeks ago I found, in Wicken Fen, a full-grown larva of 0. roenosa, and I put in a box by itself. During the night it sjmn its cocoon, and five days afterwards it emerged, a tine female ; a few days a fterit laid more than fifty eggs : they duly hatched, and are now under the care of Mr. Hellins. I am quite certain that this female was not impregnated before laying its eggs, as it was completely isolated from coming into contact with any male. A similar circumstance occurred with me some few years ago; the species then were Snierintlms tiliae and S. ocellatus." In 1879, Mr. W. G. Pearce of Bath writes (Entom., vol. xii., pp. 229-30) : — " As previous to this year I was unaware of parthenogenesis among the Lepidoptera, I send you this note, thinking the subject may prove as interesting to others as it is to myself. Last summer I fed up about a dozen larvae of Liparis disjxir, tliree of which I gave to a friend, and they all emerged as males ; the first of my own to come out was a male, which I immediately killed. After this I kept three females, wishing to secure eggs, but as no other male made its appearance I was disappointed, although the moths I was keeping laid batches of eggs, two of which I threw away, thinking, of course, that they were infertile, and the other batch Avould have shared a like fate had it not been deposited upon the side of a box in which I had other pupte. Judge of my surprise when, on May 6th, I found that larvfB were emerging therefrom, and these identical larvse are still feeding. As I kept the pupae in a securel^'-fastened box with a glass lid, no male could have had access. I shall be curious to see if this power of reproduction will extend to the next generation." A case of parthenogenesis is rejiorted by Mr. J. A. Watson {Enfoni., vol. XV., pp. 261-2) to have occurred in Anarta myrtUli. The record reads as follows : — " Having noticed what to me is a curious tlung, I venture to send you tlie following note : - A few weeks ago my son (aged four j^ears) brought me a ])upa of Anarta ini/riilli, which he had found in the road, and 1 put it in a tin box to jjlease him, tliinking it would not survive the pressure it had received, as it was nearly Hat. To-day, the 4th July, recpiiring a box for collecting, on opening the lid I saw the remains of the imago of A. v>i/rfil1i and the eggs it had deposited on the side of the box, \\ith dust at 8 THE entomologist's RECORD. the bottom, which through curiosity I put under a pocket lens, when to my surprise I saw a number of small larvae. This led me to examine the eggs, and I found that they had all hatched. Nothing could possibly have got into the box, as it was in my desk, and I had almost forgotten it. Of course the larvae were all dead, or I should have tried to rear them." Further instances will be found in The Entomoloijisi's Becord, vol. i., pp. 95 and 174. Although, from what has been written, it will be seen that it is certain that parthenogenesis does occur in Lepidoptera, yet it must be confessed that the material based on true scientific experiment is not large, and that many more careful observations based on the most exact experiments are required. The peculiar phenomenon pi'esented is worth all the patience with which the entomologist must attack this subject, and he would have the reward of knowing that he had helped to make clearer one of the greatest mysteries of insect life. The phenomenon of ])arthenogenesis can only be explained by suppos- ing that the potency of the male element is handed down generation after generation and that former fertilisations affect the embryo, independently of the actual union which fertilises the ovum. The male element must be looked upon as possessing not only a great and direct influence on the development of the eggs immediately fertilised by it, l)ut also on the eggs of successive issues not directly fecundated. That this is so, is shown by the fact that the unfertilised egg undergoes varying conditions of development short of the actual development of a perfect embryo. This was foreshadowed in the section on the variation m the colour of the egg (vol. v., })p. 139-141). In cases of parthenogenesis the influence must be powerful enough to cause full development not only for one generation, but for one or more generations beyond the one normally reached, and in this way may be explained the })henomenon that some species, Avhich iisually do not niultipl^^ without sexual intercourse occa- sionally produce 2>arthenogenetic young, even in cases like S2)hmx li(justri, Bomlnjx mori, A'c, where it could scarcely be ex]iected. It is remarkable that in most orders of insects the parthenogenetic progeny is usually male, but in the Psi/chidce among Lepidoptera, helotoky, or the pro- duction of parthenogenetic females, alone takes place. I^El'l^OgPEe'l' OF R LEPITDOPl'EI^I^l' for 1894. By J. W. TUTT, P.E.S. Another year has passed, and the time has arrived for another retrospect, another look into the internal workings of tliat strange human mixture which makes up " the entomological world." A strange mixture indeed it is, its units bound together by a common interest in the handiwork of Nature, which everywhere surrounds them. What a great contrast has the year of grace 1894 presented to its predecessor. It is true that we had a glorious spring, a lovely month in March and April, when the luscious catkins of the sallow threw out their ricli ])erfume into the clear bracing air, attracting crowds of flies by day, still gi'eater crowds of moths by night; when thoughts of Tht. He remarked that of the latter, one specimen has the hind nuirgin of right forewing indented, and the wing broadened as though from an injury to the pupa; in this wing the margins of the large orbicular and reniform stigmata had become so joined that the dividing lines had disappeared, and the stigmata were fused into one irregularly formed blotch. Mr. McLachlan exhibited, on behalf of Mr. G. F. Wilson, F.K.S., of Weybridge, a " grease band " which had been tied round trees to prevent the females of Cheimatohia hrmaata from ascending the trunks for the purposes of oviposition ; the band was thickly covered with the bodies of females, together with a few males. Surgeon-Captain Manders exhibited a pair of Chelura bifasciatn, from the Shan States, and called attention to the " assembling " habits of the males, some hundreds of which were attracted by the numerous females which emerged from the cocoons at sunset. Mr. B. A. Bower exhibited a beautiful variety of Zys, until it reaches some overhanging tuft of grass, under which it rests. The Birmingham Entomological Society is notable for the number of students of other orders than the favourite Lepidoptera and Coleop- tera who take j^art in its meetings. The meeting on Oct. 15th was almost entirely occupied with exhibits by them as follows : — Mr. R. C. Bradley : Aculeate Ilymenoptera from the New Forest, including Pompilius spissus and Myrmosa luehinoccpjhala. Mr. A. H. Martineau : a few insects taken at Nevin, N. Wales, in September ; three specimens of Syrphus annulipes, the species which was introduced to the British list by Mr. Wainwright on the strength of a single specimen taken by him on the Cotswolds in June last {vide, vol. v., p. 155); Arctnphila mussitam, which Mr. Martineau stated he had had great difficulty in distinguisliing, when on the wing, from Bombus muscornni. Mr. A. W. SOCIETIES. 21 Walker : insects collected this summer at Morthoc and Woolacombe, in Devonshire, among others being Epeolns rnftpes ; also Psilhyrus vestalis, from Trench Wood. Mr. Bethune Baker remarked upon the unusual abundance of Syrphidne in his garden this autumn ; Mr. Wainwright had had the same experience, Syrphns halteatus and S. corollas being specially plentiful ; Mr. Bradley testified to the same fact, and said that S. selenUica, which he had never seen in the district before, had been quite common this autumn in Sutton Park. Mr. W. Harrison had succeeded in breeding Trochilinm api/onuis from larvae obtained at Artey, in April last ; he had on several previous occasions obtained larvte in the autumn, but had not been successful in rearing them ; he had found the larvfe taken in April, after hybernation, mucli easier to rear. City of London Entomological and Natural History Society. — Oct. IGth, 1894. — Exhibits : — Mr. Battley : a drawer containing most of his Ar/rotidae ; also a copy of " The Photogram," having as a supple- ment a plate of colour photo-prints of Chelonta caia, Vanessa to and V, atahmta, the likeness to the originals being extremely good. Dr. Buckell : a 2 Epinephele ianirn and a 2 Satyriis semele, both captured at Folkestone Warren, on September 2nd, last ; the specimens were in perfect condition, and he raised the question as to whether the lanira was part of a second brood, or whether that species continued to emerge over a period of two months. Mr. Bate : a specimen of Arctia fidi- ginosa, bred from a ? taken at the end of June, the rest of the l)rood being still feeding. Dr. Dudgeon : a young slow- worm (Anguis fragiUs) and its mother ; the latter was captured at Heme Bay, and the young one was one of a brood of five ; it was about five weeks old and very snaky-looking, being longitudinally striped with pale yellow. Mr. Clark : Zeuzera pyrina from London Fields. Mr. Southey : a long series of Xylophasia scolopacina from Highgate Woods, bred by himself, and preserved larvae and ichneumons of the same. Mr. Smith : Scodiona- helgiaria and Asphalia ridens from the New Forest. Mr. Bacot : a series of Boinhyx trifolii, sembled near Liverpool ; he remarked that the species did not seem to be very closely allied to any of its congeners, most of which he exhibited with their preserved larva?. Mr. P. J. Robinson, of Brixton : an androgynous specimen of Crocallis elinguaria, bred from the New Forest. The antenna and wings on one side were distinctly male, and on the other side, female. Capt. Thompson, on l)ehalf of Mr. Mutch of Hornsey : a series of Agrotis cursor/a from Morayshire, N.B. He also exhibited series of Agrotis vestigialis from Co. Sligo and Pembrokeshire, and MeliUica aurinia from (^o. Sligo ; also an miset series of Dasypolia tcmpli, taken at light b}' Mr. E. Halliday at Halifax, where he found them common, having obtained eighteen in this way. Mr. Bayne : Hydrelia nncida, Tlioloiiiiges tnrfosalis, Hypenodes costacstri- gaJis, and others from the New Forest; he reported the capture of both sexes of Hyhemia defoliaria at Ejiping Forest, early in the month. Mr. Pearson : an onion stem, having al)Out half-way up a small onion, whicli had begun to grow in that position, when the seeds had commenced to dLJvelop. Mr. Tutt : Emydia cribrnia from the New Forest, and for com- parison its var. Candida, taken liy himself and Dr. Chajunan, near Courmayeur, on the Italian side of Mont lilanc. jMr. Prout : Tryjihacna mdiscqnn, from Sandown and tlie New Forest; also Noctua c-nigvnm, Aporopliyla australis (with dark vars.) and Caradrina amhigua, from Sandown. Mr. Prout read the following notes : — 22 THE entomologist's record. On Caradrina ambigua from Sandown. — " As the species exhibited to-night has already been recorded as C. superstes, it seems desirable to say a few words in explanation of my present announcement of it as C. ambigua. I am inclined to doubt whether our two British forms, that have been hitherto supposed to be, the one C. amhiijua, and the other C. superstes, are distinct, indeed from what has come under my notice I feel sure they are not. It will be remembered that Mr. Tutt in 1889 (Entom., vol. xxii., p. 235), recorded the Isle of Wight speci- mens as C. ambigua, but in 1891 (Brit. Noct., vol. i., p. 148) he introduced C. snpertites as also British, and referred the Freshwater specimens to the latter species. Looking at Herrich-Schaeffer's figures last Saturday, I felt no doubt that the insect I had taken at Sandown, and had received from Mr. Hodges from Guernsey, was the one there figured under the name plantaginis = ambigua ; but, in order to get further light on the subject, I, this morning, visited the Natural History Museum, and ex- amined the specimens from Zeller and Frey, which are in the collection there. These agreed with the testimony of Herrich-Schaeffer and all the other Continental authors, in that the more testaceous species was labelled C. ambigua, the more ochreous one C. superstes — exactly re- versing Mr. Tutt's differentiation {Eut. Bee, vol. iv., pp. 98-9). But C. superstes has the stigmata and the rows of transverse spots darker than in the figure {I.e., No. 2, pi. c, fig. -4), of Mr. Tutt's Deal example, so that I suspect that even that is only a variety of the Continental ambigua. Tlie true C. su2)erstes has also a very distinct row of black spots on the margin of the fore-wing. Another little point that is not without significance is, that Fuchs, who knew both species well, and had reared C. superstes from the egg, says (Stett. eut. Zeit., vol. xlv., pp. 261, et seq.) that C. superstes is single-brooded, and occurs contem- poraneously with C. taraxaci in July, being worn by the middle of August, while C. ambigua is double-brooded, the 2nd brood being about from August 20th, on into September. This latter date agrees accurately with the time of appearance of most of our British examples." Mr. Tutt, after referring to the original articles in the British Noctuce and their Varieties, said that Mr. Front's statement as to the more ochreous species being C'. superstes and the greyer one C. ambigua was perfectly correct, and that this differentiation agreed with that in the British Noctuce, &c., Vol. i. ; the names were transposed in theFlate (c), and also in the short account of the species (Ent. Rec, iv., pp. 98-9). It was, of course, quite possible that Mr. Front might be correct in uniting the two forms, but without going fully into the matter, he did not think the two forms as described in The British Noctuce, &c., were other than two distinct species, nor did he much doubt but that they were identical with the two European species. The matter, however, would have to be looked into. One thing was evident, and that was, that on the differentiation of the species, as proved by the original type description in The British Noctucv, the Guernsey specimens which had been captured, and most (probably all) of the Isle of Wight sjiecimens, were Caradrina ambigua. The Kev. C. K. N. Burrows of Rainham, then read the following paper: — (See vol. v., p. 281). Mr. Tutt pro[)Osed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Burrows for his paper. He stated that, strangely enough, the first sjjecimen of Ayrotis obscura he saw on sugar, almost deluded him into the belief that the SOCIETIES. 23 insect was Nocttia augur. The longitudinal streaking near the outer margin of the wing seemed to be quite a general (although rare) character among some Agrotids. lieferring to the unusual variation that Mr. Burrows had found in A JOURNAL OF VARIATION. No. 3. Vol. VI. February 15th, 1895. K ]VIopriiiig at Boupg ^t. JVIaurice. By J. VV. TUXr, F.E.S. The silvery sweetness of the Sabbath bells is borne on the still air into the little Swiss village of Bourg St. Maurice, through whose narrow streets the jingle, jingle of the mule bells passes, beyond the houses, into the fields just beyond. A typical Swiss village, I have called it little, although it is large compared with many of the Swiss villages that dot the slopes of the Isere Valley, in which Bourg St. Maurice stands. Swiss villages I have termed them, for are not all these charm- ing little places on the Alps essentially Swiss, whether they are in Savoy (and thus belong politically to France), in Piedmont (and thus bc'hmg to Italy) or in Switzerland itself. It is one of the last three daj^s of July. A large white cloud floats along, changing its fantastic shape as it sails across the deep blue sa})})hire sk}^ but the mountains around are free from cloud, and show no signs of any possible atmosplieric disturbance for some time to come. The village is situated at no great distance from the entrance to the Little St. Bernard Pass, on the French side of the frontier. Along the road which leads towards this we go for a few hundred yards, the emerald green of the fields showing, by the luxuriance of the crops, how carefully they have been irrigated. A few butterflies only are ob- served near the village — Pieris rapae, Epinephele ianiva, Coenoni/mpha pdiaphilns, with here and there, scudding along at a tremendous pace, Colias edusa and C. hyale. These of course we observe from the road, but presently a White l)utterfly, of pronounced habit and flight, appears, and settling on a flower by the wayside, shows us the first Pieris daplidice. A glorious insect (evidently just emerged from the pupa) its marbled gi'een underside discloses at once its identity, whilst its abundant dark spotting on the up])er side bespeaks it a female. This is but the advance guard, for in a meadow to the left, where a row of trees makes a grateful shade, the delicate and slender lady of the woods, — the Wood- white butterfly (Lcncophasid sinapis) — flutters so gently, that it looks the embodiment of delicious coolness. We reach a flower- covered bank only some ten or twelve feet in height, on which the rays of the sun, with their ever-increasing heat, beat down pitilessly. It is just such a flower-bank as one might meet in hundreds of byways in Britain ; but here, butterflies and moths innumerabli' haunt the 50 THE kntomologist's record. chosen ground. Lovely Argynnis j^apfiia spread their wings to catch the rays of the sun, whilst A. adippe and A. aglaia dash from flower to flower, hustling off the smaller creatures. An exquisite piece of molten silver set in a golden frame on yon knapweed flower, shows the beautiful A. latona, and soon many others are detected. The Red Ad- miral (P. atalanta), the embodiment of warmth and richness, fans its glowing wings, and keeps intruders to its own domain at a very respect- able distance. Gonepteryx rhamni adds colour to the scene, its yellow contrasting strongly with the rich orange of C. edusa, which fre- quently pauses to join in the luscious banquet that this bank affords. A potato field skirts the top of the bank, and along this I slowly pass, to watch the aerial sprites in their gambols. Two Chalk-hill Blues (Lycaena corydon) rush at each other, and all the passions of a life pent up in their frail bodies seem let loose, as they fight with apparently viru- lent fierceness. An interesting little Copper (Chrysophanus dorilis) with brown wings and scarcely a tinge of the brighter colour, is not at all infrequent, whilst the female is so much a Blue in shape and general character, that the relationshij) of Coppers and Blues is manifestly illustrated. A small moth bundles head-first off that flower into the potato field and settles on the ground. I mark it down, and soon dis- cover many Agrophila trabenUs taking an early nap, with one eye very widely open. An epitome of black-and-white loveliness hovers over a flower, and reveals itself as my Kentish favourite, Acontia hichiosa. Bright green and scarlet Zygaena minos boom along, stirred to un- wonted exertions by the heat, whilst other Blues join L. corydon in its combats or play. A rapid rush, and Heliothis armigera is seen diving its long tongue deep into the nectaries of a flower. A wonderful instrument is that long flexible tube, made of two longitudinal halves, fitted as it were by joints all the way down to make a sucker, whilst the globular expansion at the top into which it opens, by alternately expanding and contracting, causes the nectar to flow uj) into it, and then forces it down its throat. The Browns, too, are prominent ; there are plenty of E. ianira, with some striking varieties among the males exactly like the ordinary form in size, general build and ai)pear- ance, but with a marvellous supj^ly of silky androconia. Yes, one of the specimens has two spots, the second half-way down the wing, and here is another. "Another species," says my companion laconically. " I think not ; where are the corresponding females if it is ? " is my reply. " Not out yet," is the prompt answer, and so it turns out ; our varieties are E. lycaon a near ally of E. ianira, who haunts the same ground. Four other species of Fritillaries occur here besides those we have named, among which the rich coat of Argynnis dia is noticeable, but we re- gretfully leave the bank behind and soon reach a bridge crossing a rapid stream. We bear^to the left without crossing the bridge, and sit down by the side of the stream, where, under the shadow of the trees, we wipe our streaming brows and take in large draughts of the purest ozone. A lovely bank of bushes grows luxuriantly by the water's edge, and a piece of waste ground, on which mahce-\\ke Skippers skip, Colias hyale hesitates, and Pieris daplidice stays to sij^ the honied sweets of the flowers, is followed by a clover field which leads to the foot[of the mountains. Ilythyia carnella, Acidalia rnhricata, Eudidia glyphica, Eubolia mensuraria, S2)ilodes cindalis, and many other A MORNING AT BOlTK(i ST. MAlRrOE. 61 species haunt the edges of the waste ground and clover field, whilst as we skirt the edge of the field by the side of the Imsh-margined stream, a tall thistle head discloses a magnificent specimen of Erebia acthiops fanning its wings. It is ])iit just out of pupa, and exhil)its not one line, one mark of difference from those which may be found inhabiting the Argyleshire hills at the back of (Joulport. Very low we think this, considering the latitude, for what is generally considered a northern species, although it is true that it comes down almost to the sea-level in the Durham denes. At any rate here it is ; and now, as we reach the foot of the mountains before us, we might almost fancy we were on a chalk bank in Kent. Not altogether though, for the surroundings dispel the idea as soon as formed, although some of the insects are remark- ably suggestive. At the corner, where the stream skirts the hills, Lencophasid sinnpis is not uncommon ; the clean white colour and well-defined round apical spot on the males inform us that they belong to a second brood, for there is a very well-defined seasonal dimorphism in this species, not so fre(piently seen in British specimens where the second brood is only partial and comparatively rare. But on this bank there is a perfect wealth of insect life. Blues in profusion, are here — Lycaena corydon, L. beUar(jus, and L. icarus among our British species — whilst the charming Zygaena miiios is altogether out- numbered by the still more beautiful and variable Z. carniolica. A grand insect is this latter species, witli its crimson streak running transversely near to and parallel with the outer margin of the wing, besides having the usual five spots, with which many Burnets are alone ornamented. Acidalia hnmiliata, A. ornata, Enholia bipunctata, Mi- maeseoptilus plagiodactylm, Aciptilia tetradactyla, and numberless other species strongly suggest a limestone or cretaceous fauna, and the flora is decidedly of a similar nature. A few minutes' observation soon makes us return again to the welcome shade, and by the side of the stream Crambns culmellus and C. perlellus are in considerable numbers. As we have already been on the move three hours, we slowly return to Bourg St. Maurice. The insects have increased in numbers since the morning, and are flying wildly about in the hot sun. This walk home in the sun settles our stay at Bourg St. Maurice, and, my companion objecting to being burned in the Tropics, the afternoon sees us en route for the pass of the Little St. Bernard, on our wa}'^ to a more Alpine spot, where the sun's rays are tempered by the })leasant cool- ness which accompanies in these delightful places a rise of two or three thousand feet in altitude. JSlotes on a gpecimeri of Orrhodia erythrocephala var. glabra, recently tal^en in Devonsliire. By Wm. S. RIDING, M.D., F.E.8. In the earlier part of November, 1894, my son took a fine female of 0. erythroccphnla var. glabra, at ivy in our garden. As it varied somewhat from Mr. Tutt's description of Hiibner's figure of var. glabra (British Noctuae, vol. iii., p. 6),. I forwarded it to Mr. Tutt, who wrote, " There is no doubt it is a slight modification of var. glabra." The liead palpi and thorax are reddisli-brown, the palpi are porrected and are not visible beyond the head. The antennte are apparently 62 THE entomologist's record. simple (with a lens they can be seen to be very finely ciliated). The fore- wings are purple with a slight tinge of brown, and are more or less suffused with bluish-grey scales ; the fringes are reddish-brown, dotted with darker ojiposite the intervals between the veinlets. Expanse of wings, 1" 6'". Near the base there is a transverse line not reaching the inner margin . Half-waj' between this line and the orbicular a second trans- verse line, edged externally with i-eddish-brown and sliglitly oblique, runs across the wing. The ell)0wed line is oljtusely angled near the costa, sinuous, and edged internally with reddish-brown. Mid-waj' between it and the outer margin is a narrow bluish-grey band, in the centre of which are seven reddish-brown spots. All the transverse lines, as well as the outlines of the stigmata and the nervures, are bluish-grey. Between the outer margin and the ^^f^le bar the veinlets are dark, especially the third median veinlet, which appears as a short black streak. Both stigmata are unicolorous with the fore-wing, edged internally with bluish-grey, and externally, except above and below, with reddish-brown. The orbicular is nearly round, and the reniform somewhat oblong with three black dots at its lower and outer portion. The external reddish-brown edging of the reniform is prolonged as a narrow shade to the internal margin. Along the costa, from the base as far as the reniform, there is a very cons^jicuous, pale, slightly ochreous line, edging the costa ; beyond it are three distinct spots of a similar colour, and a fourth, less conspicuous, is placed at the commencement of the pale bar. The hind-wings are blackish-grey, with an indistinct central spot and two paler transverse lines — one, mid- way between the spot and the hind margin, and faint ; tlie other, close to the latter, and more distinct. The fringes are pinker and much paler than those of the fore-wing, and are almost unspotted. The body is blackish-grey, becoming reddish-brown on the sides and towards the extremity. There is a general similarity between this variety of 0. eri/thio- cepliala and some of the'varieties of O. vdccinii. The chief points of difference seem to be the following, which, however, must only be ac- cepted for the specimen descriljed — at all events, until a further com- parison of otlier British and foreign specimens is made : — 0. erythrocephala. 0. vncchiii. 1. — Large size, 1" 6'". 1. — Average size, 1" ?>'", rarely 1" 4'". 2. — Head, palpi, thorax, forelegs, 2. — Head, palpi, thorax, fore-legs, and fringes of fore-wings, and fringes of fore-wings, reddish-brown, contrasting unicolorous with the foi'e- strongly with the purple of wings. the fore- wings. 3. — Fore- wings purple with a 3. — Fore-wings ; out of some 70 tinge of brown, and more specimens, with many vari- or less suffused with bluish- eties, there are none with a grey scales. purple colour. Some of the reddish-brown varieties suf- fused with bluish-gre}'' and ochreous scales, have a ge- neral and superficial re- semblance to the specimen of var. glabra. NOTKS ON A SPECIMEN OF ORRUODIA ERYTHROCEPnALA, ETC. HS 4. — The second basal line is ocini- 4. — The second l)asal line is two- distant from the first hasal thirds of the distance from line and from the orl)icular. the first l)asal line and The first angle, formed near one-third from the orbicu- the costa, is not very acute. lar. It forms two successive The transverse lines are angles near the costa, both only slightly defined by the of whicli are very acute, edging. The transverse lines are generally distinctly defined by the edging. 5. —A conspicuous edging to the 5. — The pale line occurs in some costa, appearing as a pale varieties of 0. vaccinii, but sliglitly ochreous line, eeas- is much less conspicu- ing opposite the reniform. ous, inasmuch as it more neai-ly ai)proaches the ground colour of the wing. 6. — The orljicular stigma, nearly 6. — The orbicular stigma, oval and round and very slightly oblique. The reniform obli({ue. Tlie reniform stigma has the lower por- stigma has three black dots tion filled in with black in at its lower and outer por- most specimens, in a few tion. the black is absent, but in none is represented by dots. It will be interesting to ascertain how far these differences hold good for other specimens taken in England or abroad. My specimen seems to differ from lliibner's figure of the variety, chiefly, in the transverse lines and outlines of tlie stigmata l)eing bluisli-grey, instead of ochreous, in the venation being paler than the gTound colour, and in a blacker hind-wing having two paler transverse lines. — Buckerell Lodge, near Honiton, E. Devon. Dec. IZth, 1894. ]\|otes on Garadrina anibigua and G. superstes. By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. I am indebted to Mr. Prout for calling my attention to the fact that the specimens from the Isle of Wight, which we have recently been call- ing Caradriaa snperstes, are in reality, C. ambhjua. This blunder is all the more inexcusable, because I have diagnosed them quite correctly in TIte British Noctuae and their Varieties, have taken what I suppose to be both species at Deal and G. niiihiock })enned the above extract, could never possibly have hoped to be anything more than collectors, or, at the most, systematists, are now really good and earnest scientific students. Of all the Orders that come within the ken of entomological science, tlie Lepidoptera have furnished the greatest amount of material for philosophic study. The coleo]iterist still works away at his species ; but scarcely any coleoptei'ist of repute has written a deeply philosoi)hical paper on tlie Order which he has made his special study. The mar- vellous habits of ants, bees and social wasps have brought the hymen- opterist to the fore, bixt the students of the other orders rarely write anything of general interest. The young and well-educated individiial, who to-day takes up the collecting of Lepidoptera as recreation and study condjined, usually puts enough energy into his work to name the Macro-lepidoptera of his native country in two or three j^ears, and the Micro-lepidoptera in three or four more, and then he usually commences to look about for varieties. True, one here and there may do tliis from the most mercenary and unworthy motives, and with no desire to learn what the diversities and differences ex^jressed by variation mean, just as he mai/ have collected Macro- and Micro-le2)ido})tera without wishing to understand their hal)its, anatomy or physiology. But, in such cases, the collections are the end instead of the means, and we. I am sure, shall all agree with the sentiment expressed b}' Sir John Lubbock, that " to collect merely for the sake of collecting, has a direct tendenc}' to narrow the mind. To aspire onl}' to be able to say that 62 THE entomologist's keoobo. one has in one's cabinet a certain number of species, or some rare sorts which nobody else possesses, is surely an ambition quite unworthy of a true entomologist." Although collecting, then, must always be considered as a legitimate part of an entomologist's work (nay, up to a certain point, as a neces- sary and important part), yet if a person's pursuit of entomology stops short at collecting, he is about as much a scientific entomologist as a butcher is a comparative anatomist or a physiologist. In the pursuit of his study the entomologist will find a great part of his material in the living insects which are the objects of his tender care and solicitude. The habits of species may be well known, but what relationship do these habits bear to the environment of the species ? The colours of larvae may have been well-described, but what is the meaning of a particular mark or a particular spot ? The differences between two closely allied butterflies may have been very carefully worked out, but what has brought about these differences ? Two different forms of the same insect may be known, but what is the cause of the difference ? The polymorphism of a moth is exceedingly interesting, but what inherent factor has produced the polymorphism ? And here even the best stop at present. What are the inherent factors that produce, determine and guide the forces which result in variation ? We theorise ; we think that we have solved a jDuzzle, only to find that some one detects an error in our data, a defect in the foundation of our theory, and down comes the super-structure to the ground. But destructive criticism is much easier than the formulation of a new theory to put in the place of what we destroy. Nevertheless, we find, in spite of the searching criticism to which every new theory is subjected, that a great deal of solid headway has been made. When a man observes a phenomenon, his first question should be — What is the cause of it? When he attempts to answer the question and starts his theory he must ask himself — Can I knock a hole in the bottom of it ? If he cannot, and if other scientific students cannot, then the theory must stand as an explanation of the fact until something better can be put in its place. This, in truth, is the basis of all scientific study, which makes men, if they will, find — " Books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything." The excellence of British collections of Lepidoptera has always been conceded, and the extent of the insect fauna of the British Islands, in comparison with that of other countries of equal or greater area, is very noticeable. The known Tortriges of the Palasarctic area, total up to about 650 ; of these, above 350 are British. Almost 50 per cent, of the known Pala^arctic Tineina (taking this group in its old and widest sense) are to be found, and so on. We have in Britain two-thirds of the number of insects to be found in the whole of Grermany and Switzerland combined. It is not at all difiicult to understand whv this is so. No country in the world of equal area presents the same diversities in its geological characters as do the British Islands, and I need not point out how intimate is the connection between the geology of a country and its flora, and between the flora and the insect fauna. The varying geological conditions give us a flora, large both in the number of genera and relatively in the number of species, and this is sulhcient to account for the fact that we have so large a percent- SOCIETIES. 63 age of the Palfearctic insects existing in our midst. This fact helps to explain why the insularity of British entomologists has never been so fatal to tlieir scientific aims as would have been expected, and at the same time, why a thorough studj^ of the British fauna has often formed an admirable education for those who have afterwards made their names as entomologists or naturalists of tlie world. This variety of geological conditions has combined with the isolation of the Britisli Isles as a wliole and the still gi-eater isolation of some of the smaller islands, to give us a fauna unequalled, probably, in its range of variati(.)n, l)y that of any other part of the Pala^arctic area. The com- bination of two strong influences — that produced by natural selection acting on differences of environment (geological), and that produced by isolation — has resulted in the variation of many species which in other parts of the Pahearctic area are but little subject to change. These varietal differences were but little noted until a few years ago ; but the writings of Darwin have largely changed this, and our learned biolo- gists of to-day have gathered from a study of the variation of insects the facts on which have been founded some of the most important theories that have ever yet been formulated by the human mind. Wallace, Weismann, Poulton and others are essentially entomologists and biologists combined, and we all know how large a place entomology takes in their work. The ease with which insects may be obtained, and the rapidity with which generation succeeds generation, make them particularly suitable subjects for experiment, and this is sufficient in itself to explain why there is such a strong tendency to rest the proof of the theories advanced on the facts connected with our favourite study. But this phase of our subject leads me again to point out what a gap there is between those people who collect for the mere sake of collect- ing, and those who study what they collect. The latter, if I may so put it, have passed from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light. Can anyone tell the vast gulf that has been bridged here, or how greatly the enjoyment of life has been increased ? Can anyone de- fine the exquisite change of feeling with which an entomologist regards an insect once the barrier has been passed ? I have before pointed out the value of collections, and therefore the 6o}uZ^/irfe position of collectors. I have shown how necessarily limited is the range of the collector compared with the whole field of natural science. I have suggested that a collector may be a mere cumberer of the ground, but have also indicated how, under favourable conditions, he ma}^ take a humble place among the scientific workers of his age, and aid in unravelling some of the many tangles and puzzles, the many mysteries of Nature which everywhere surround us. This leads me at once to the value of entomology as a subject of study. There are people who thiiik that the only value of a thing is the money that it will fetch, utterly forgetful that money itself is only of use in so far as it adds to happiness. The value of the study of a scientific subject cannot be gauged in this way. An old pliilosopher once said, " Whatever it has been worth God's while to create, it must be worth man's while to study." The mental pleasure which the subject gives must be the rule by which its value is measured. The constant and continuous pleasure afforded by entomology, the industry required in separating the wheat from the chaff in the more philoso- phical branches of the subject, can be pointed out as bringing about a 64 THE entomologist's record, condition of mental happiness, of which nothing can rob us and to which only an individual of the highest mental ty2:)e can attain ; then one may add the health-giving exercise necessitated by field work, the mental and bodily exercise combined tending to produce the coveted "■ metis Sana in cor pore sanoy Indeed, the charms of entomology are such, that one wonders not so much how it is that many with a love of investigation, or curiosity as to how the present natural conditions have been bi'ouglit about, have taken up seriously and enthusiastically its study, but rather, considering all things, how few there are who have done so. Once the true course has been opened out before our eyes, and the true philosophical spirit tasted and appreciated, the charm and interest are unequalled. Probably, the fact that average men and women look upon us as a body of somewhat harmless lunatics, has had something to do with the slow progress that entomology, in company with other brandies of science, has until recently niade. That any sane man or woman should be interested and, as the uninitiated would say, should " waste his or her time " over bugs and insects, appears unaccountably strange to many. The fact that when much-read writers endeavour to portray an entomologist, they generally idealise him as being widely different from other men, totally immersed in his subject, and stupid to the highest degree in all matters else, has probably had much to do with the popular fallacy. On the other hand, the stupid ignorance which so-called educated men dis^jlay ; the absurd blunders and errors into whicli they fall ; the ridiculous errors which high-class papers and magazines allow to pass unchallenged in their pages ; all these lead scientific men to wonder oft-times whether such people are not really deficient of a certain section of their brains. These frecpient errors, too, appear to be so utterly beneath contempt, that tlie well-informed man allows them to pass unnoticed, knowing that to correct tliem ho must explain to adults as he would to little children. The task appears so Herculean that he desists from the attempt. Whatever depths of general ignorance still exist in the popular mind on matters entomological, it must be owned, however, that the interest recently exhibited in the more philosophical side of the study, together with the general spread of education and intelligent culture, have left their mark, and we are glad to find that many individuals do now-a- days express their surprise at the prevailing ignorance about natural history matters. Some such have suggested that, in its simple forms, natural history should be made a compulsory subject of instruction in the State schools. I suppose there is no Oxford or Cambridge graduate, a master in one of our Public schools, who corrects a boy for telling him that a Avhale is not a fish ; nor perhajis is there a certificated teacher in our State schools, who would ])e guilty of the same or a similar error. With regard to that still great army of " private adventure " schools, however, on which Max O'Rell so glowingly descants, those " seminaries for the sons and daughters of gentlemen," which compare so unfavourably in their results with their compeers, can as much be said ? As a teacher, however, it is my most decided opinion that the making of such a subject as natural history compulsory in our State schools would be ridiculous in the extreme. Our system of primar}' education, compared with what intelligence and a little insight might make it, is now (owing to the superfluity of subjects which have been SOOTETTES. 65 renrlerofl compulsoiy if the maximum Government grant is to be earned) largely a huge sham. Interest a lad in pond life, by showing him the marvellous wonders, the tliousands of tiny inhabitants that a drop of such water contains ; show him the beauties of a butterfly, its marvel- lous tongue, its wonderful eyes ; and if he has any taste in this direction, depend upon it the taste will soon exhil)it itself. Some lit f le thing or other made most of us active naturalists. At the ao-e of thirteen, a friend called one daj'^ and asked me to go and see a case of butterflies made by a youngster a year or two older than myself, who had just come up from Newbury in Berkshire to my native town. I went ; the next day my mother lost a window-blind, and I bought a cane. In this way, in 1871, I provided myself with my first net. Large pins, small pins, anything tliat would spike a butterfly or moth, were brought into recpiisition. I became the nuisance and horror of an orderly house. At the age of 15 my craze had become a settled form of lunacy, and everyone was enjoined to leave me in peace. Of books I had Coleman's British BntterJi/cs,'Wood's Common British Moths, a few odd numbers of Staintou's 3Ia)inal, and afterwards to complete my treasured \[\>i-dvy,'Sewraan's British Moths. How I cherished that book! Livino- within three miles of Chattenden Woods, and withintwenty minutes' walk of the lireezy chalk downs and the charming oak and beech woods of sunny Kent, I soon grew to love out-door life with a marvellous j^assion. The most serious blow I received was in 1875, when an odd copy of The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine came in my way. I spelt out its Latin witli slow and laborious care, and read with wonder and horror those terrible descriptions of insects from some unknown regions with which it was filled. My heart sank within me, and was only lightened by the facts that it was a marvellous Colias hyale year, that I was in boisterous health, and born I veritably believed to do nothing but catch those charm- ing Pale Clouded Yellow butterflies. At seventeen, we soon foro-et our first rebuff, and I soon forgot those Latin descriptions, for during the next five years I was hard at work. Among other things, I learned to read Latin with ease, and to understand, in a way, what Science was. About 1881, 1 first met my friend Mr. Coverdale. We were both essentially studious, as well as rabid collectors. He had gone in for a stiff course of scientific training, and I had done the same. We had ])een the only two students who passed in the higher stage of Animal Morphology and Physiology, at the South Kensington examinations of the jirevious May. We agreed to work together, and for a time did so ; but a year or two afterwards he went abroad, and, after about nine months, passed into the great unknown, whence no word of him has ever reached us his last letter expressing the anticipation that his wife was dying and that malarial fever had got its grip on him. From that time onwards, all I can say of my entomological work is — Is it not chronicled in The En- tomologist, The Entomologist's Eecord, The British Naturalist, and even occasionally in that erstwhile dread Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ? I did not intend, gentlemen, to write an autobiography, but one's pleasures are written oft-times in one's self. And do not the inmost feelings of many of you respond to mine? Did not the exquisite pleasure of collecting, the charm of a country life, or the chance ol)servation of one of Nature's Ijeautif ul productions first cause many of of you to (•(tllcct ? And if tlie exciting [deasures of youth have calmed down into tlie more tran«iuil pleasures of manhood, is not the same 66 THE entomologist's record. fulness of pleasure ours ? The old feeling is engendered by the woods and trees. The exquisite sense of enjoyment recurs wlien we see the Purple Emperor fan his iridescent wings on the same branch of the old oak-tree on which We caught our first specimen. Do we not love our old haunts, our old nooks, our old friends? I love the old flowers, the old spots, and so I ween do all of us. If science grows out of collecting so much the better, but, with the feelings we possess even the charm of collecting cannot be altogether in vain. Gentlemen, I hope I have not bored you with these personal reminiscences, I trust I have not disappointed you if you came in the expectation of hearing a learned peroration. I feel that science may, nay must, go largely to the winds for once, and that we will recapitulate our old experiences, fight our old battles, and enjoy the remembrances of the entomology of early youth, at least for a part of to-night. But let us not forget, in the glowing reminiscences of our youthful experiences, that there is a deeper and more lasting jiassion in middle age for him who wishes to drink of it. The scientific en(piirer leads a life which the multitude know not of. He has friends whom his most intimate acquaintances have never seen ; occupation that leaves no time for lassitude or ennui ; thoughts that carry him far away from the worries and cares of life. He leads, indeed, a doul)le life, the peculiar part of this second existence being that no one who has not been admitted into the brotherhood of this sup2:)lementary life can under- stand its interest or its charm. I have previously stated that I believe the best means of increas- ing the general interest in entomology, is for each and all who have the chance to point out the interesting side of the subject to those who show signs of taking an interest therein. But to leave the educational phase dealing rather witli recruits, I Avould turn to that phase of it which affects the more advanced portion of the entomological com- munity. I have already pointed out that the systematic arrangement and naming of specimens was for many years the principal occupation of scientific entomology. But, side by side with these, there has always been an attempt to classify, as well as to name, the insects collected. As, however, until very recent years, the early stages of comparatively few insects were known (in many countries even now they are almost altogether unknown), it is evident that such attempts as were made (and in some countries are still being made) had to be based almost entirely on the colour, shape, form and general appearance of the per- fect insects. What conclusions were drawn from these methods you all know. True it is that the conspicuous Sphinx larva ; the peculiar method of progression of the Geometrid larva, and the leaf-rolling habit of the Tortrix larva gave the family names to at least three large groups ; but at the same time almost all the references to old works make it only too sadly evident that the details of larval structure and their meanings were either unknown, or if known, were not looked upon as essential. As, however, the larger species became more and more intimately studied and certain characters became recognised as impor- tant, a new era of classification sprang up. This was instituted hy Denis and Schiffermiiller, and since then many have followed their lead. SOCIETIES. 67 It has, for a long timo past, happened that the great mass of material collected has found its way into the hands of the authorities of our Museums, and hence a very large percentage of insects have been named l)y the entomologists attached thereto. It happens also, that, owing to the nature of such ai)pointments, the jiersons selected for the work have usually had no special training. Prentice hands are there- fore always at work on subjects requiring a skilled workman, and the Museum apprentice rarely ever becomes a skilled workman, for his whole time is taken up in examining the dried bodies of insects, so that he has none to spai'e for the study of living insects. He may learn to name specimens ; but when the naming is done, the real difificulties begin, for then the insects have to be classified, and how can this be done by a man with only a Museum training. The general characters of the imago have been all that such have ever had to go upon, and these alone, therefore, can by them be considered in deciding where any given sj^ecies should be j^laced. Now such a method is at best but a poor makeshift, and must lead to a vast amount of error ; and when the later philosophy began to gain ground, and it was shown that the general resemblance of many insects was due to outside forces and had no real meaning in so far as structural relationship was concerned — that colour as a character was unreliable because two specimens of the same insect might be, the one white, the other black ; that the antennae were untrustworthy because they varied in the sexes ; that the marking varied endlessly in different individuals of the same species ; that even the differences in leg structure, tufts of hairs, etc. were often but secondary sexual characters, in fact, that the real relationshii) between species was often obscured by dozens of matters of but little import in classification — then it became clear that a system of classification based on imaginal characters alone was necessarily a hotch-potch and not worthy of the name of science. Our inability to prove some of the theories which have almost passed into axioms of belief, removes entomology from among the number of the exact sciences. We assume a sjjccial centre of creation for each species, and cannot conceive any other reasonable explanation ; but yet, the fact, that such a fundamental point has not been proved, is fatal to the exactitude of the science we profess. Similar cases will occur to many of you. But if, in its philoso})hical aspect, entomology may not be considered an exact science, nevertheless, its philoso2)hical bases are as sound as those of any other branch of biology, and in connection with the soundness of the biological facts, I will say my last word on classification. The object of classification is, to place together those species whicli have most recently developed from the same stem, working back as far as may be through the most recent stems to those less recent, and so back to that from whence all have arisen. At present we see but darkly. We ourselves hardly know what we want. We are like blind men gro}iing for tlie light. We do not really know what are the essential characters in our insects which will enal)lo us to trace l^ack their origin, and hence we move in mist, and only emerge now and again from our confusion. But the physiologist and embryologist have come to our aid, and we find that certain Inoail axioms bold good through the various stages of development of all living things. Biological students have formulated certain generalisations, 68 THE entomologist's record. based on broad and comprehensive data, and these generalisations apply to all branches of animal life. The l)iologists tell us that the only system of classification which can be natural, must be based on those stages in which we may read the past history of the insects, so that the system of classification becomes, when thoroughly worked out, as it were a genea- logical tree of the insects. The linear arrangement, they say, is evidently unsound to the most cursory observer. The embryological conditions, i.e., all those which precede maturity, say they, are those which point out to us most strongly the changes through which animals have de- veloped in the far past, and unless entomologists are to fall outside the line of biological advance, they must accept the dictum. But this entails enormous work. Where is the material on which such a classi- fication can be built ? We have not got the material yet, we have it to collect ; we know that the work will be slow, but in such an important matter it is necessary to progress slowly. Festina lente must ever be the naturalist's motto. Then vested interests step in. Classification has always been considered the special perquisite of namers and describers of new species. The family and generic names (which represent in a largo degree our classification) may want changing, and then the synonymy bogey steps in. What is the advance of science, compared with the erroneous use of a name ? says the stickler. Are not names a part of the science, indeed are not names the science ? asks bogey ; and if we don't agree, the synonymy man says what fools we are. Our catalogue -makers and synonymy men, as a rule, know nothing of em- bryology or of the deeper parts of biology. The very nature of tlieir labour prevents them from getting the necessary information, or making the necessary observations on the early stages, which would enable them to work out a system of classification on the new lines. They do not offer active resistance as a rule, but go steadily on in the old groove, perversely overlooking the overwhelming facts that should show them at once that they are nothing but obstructionists to science, that they are even belying their scientific existence and becoming propoundcrs of error, preferring to live in darkness rather than in light. But this passive resistance is not all. Occasionally one hears the wail from a conscience-smitten individual — " Well, we are biologists after all, are we not ? Do we not study nervures, palpi, genitalia, wings, etc ? How dare anyone say we are not the elect, that we are not fitted to continue as prophets to our generation ? From such, one tp;estion only needs an answer : " What is biology ? " They entirely overlook the fact that biologists are agreed that it is the embryological, the immature stages of the animals, which must give us their true history through time. So they go on, until at last there is almost open war between the closet naturalist who studies nothing but dried bodies, and the practical man who rears, observes and experiments on the living insects in all their stages. What the final end must be is evident. Truth must conquer prejudice. We shall look to the Museum men to name our insects, to the biologist to classify them. The su})erficial, one-sided, sli})-shod work of half-a-century ago, will not do for the go- ahead scientific spirit of to-day. 'I'lic truth nuist ultimately prevail, the foes of progress must be defeated. I feel strongly on this matter. It is higli time that someone took up a strong line thereon. So far as the imaginal characters confirm the biologist's work, well and good ; so far as any individual, for his own personal glorification tries to supplant biological work with superficial SOCIETIES. 6& imaginal cliaracters, small mercy must, be metetl out to him. Entomo- logists, if they wish to be considered other than dilettanti scientists, must fall into lino with the workers in other branches of biological science. The characters of half-a-ccntur_y ago may or may not be of service ; at any rate, they must be considered in the light of the progressive science we know to-day. Progress, as I have said, must necessarily be slow, but the clogs which retard progress want gently but firmly removing to a region, where, if they can do no good, they can do no harm. Gentlemen, if any word I have said to-night leads one of you to take a more serious view of the work in which we are engaged, I shall have been well repaid. The City of London Entomological Society is obtaining a name for scientific work, second to none in the kingdom. The fact that we are numerically weak, that our subscriptions are kept low on purpose to attract the humble worker, at the same time militates greatly against us, in attaining a position in Avhich more Avork can be given to the entomological public. For what we are able to do at pre- sent, we are largely indebted to the generosity of our worthy President, iinder whose guidance the Society has reached a recognised position in the entomological world. Yoii have been reminded to-night that the " Fauna List of the London District," which, two years ago, you authorised (with some enthusiasm) certain members of the Society to draw u}), re(piires printing. I have no doubt that many entomologists outside our ranks would willingly subscrilie if they knew tliat the list was ready, and that the ol>stacle to printing was mainly financial. However, I trust that all will aid the committee, who have the matter in hand, to the best of their ability, and that its publication will be per- severed in. If it be, I am quite sure that it will bring you furtl;er renown, and gain you the further resj^ect of the entomological world. And now, gentlemen, I leave you in the hands of our kind President, for another, I hope for many other years ; under his genial rule, I do not doubt that the wheels of this Society will move with as little friction, and the work done be of the same high character, that has marked the preceding years. ^^"OTICES AND REVIEWS. Catalogue of the Lepidoptekous Sui'eufajiily Xoctiih^ found IN Boreal Ajierk^a, by .J. B. Smith, Sc. D. [Published at the Government Printing Office, "Washington]. This bulky volume of 424: pages, is " Bulletin No. 44 " of the United States National Museum, and is quite a monument of bibliographical labour. Professor Smith, who is well known as a hard working lepidopterist, x-efers in his preface to the American material in the British Museum, and his condemnation of Walker's work is perhaps well deserved, although, we think, it would have been better not to have published IMr. Butler's disparaging remarks about Walker. Wx' quite agree with tlie author, that "JMr. Butler's knowledge of our (American) fauna is altogether too slight to make his notes conclusive in the case of obscure species," as also with his description of the arrangement of the Noctu^: in the British Museum collection as " an utterly unscientific hotchpotch." The definition of a "type" given l)y Prof. Smith may serve very well for the present, whilst the American specialists are determining their species ; but, when this process is completed, and the variation of the 70 THE entomologist's record. species, together with the philosophical bearings of entomology come to be studied, something much more definite in the way of a " type " will be needed. When a man, who has specially studied some particular group of Lepidoptera, takes up a systematic work on that group, he expects to be able to understand what the work means. If we look over systematic works produced in any part of the Continent of Europe, we feel that we know where we are ; but with American works it is often very different. One may turn over page after page of some American publications without recognising a single name as having any connection with the objects one has studied, and one is made to feel that with the authors of such works names are not a means to facilitate the study of the science, but are themselves the science. This attempt to substitute a study of names for the study of ento- mology is the bugbear of modern entomology in America. Such an unsatisfactory state of things seems to be due to the American com- petitive system, under which, unless a man does something to astonish his fellows, he is not considered to be doing anything. The wading through a catalogue of this kind, which ought, in the ordinary course of things, to give a student in any part of the world the greatest pleasure, becomes from this cause a source of annoyance. This result appears to be largely due to the fact that Americans have never troubled to take into account the most recent systematic work done by Europeans. Much of the best of this is the product of leisured amateurs with deep scientific tastes, who have been only too conscious of the utter worthlessness of a great deal of the work done by European museum-workers, which the Professor himself attacks so fiercely in the case of Messrs. Walker and Butler. Museum work is criticised in Europe by the leading scientific men of the day as soon as it is made public and, according as it is good or bad, is accepted, or relegated to ob- livion. There appears to be much of this museum type of work, too, in America, although work of a very different kind is also done there, for a European worker can read most of the American magazines with pleasure, and without being bored by an attempt to wade through material which is intelligible only to the author. The manufacture of separate genera for almost every s})ecies (often on the simplest specific characters), the substitution for the world-wide and well-known names of old but newly unearthed names, often of doubtful definition, may be to the honour and glory of the resurrector from his own point of view, but is a grievous error fi'om a scientific point of view. There is not a lepidopterist from England in the west to Japan in the east, nor perhaps from Japan in the west to England in the east, who would not know what Cymatophora means, and to whom a certain value would not at once be pictured by it ; but who knows what Bomhycia is intended for ? The obsolete position of Bemas among the Noctu.^ is retained, whilst Arsilouche alhovenosa, which is really almost un- differentiable from Acronycta (sub-genus Viminia) nimids, is retained in its old genus. Why does not Professor Smith really study alborenvaa by the side of the American species belonging to Viminia ? Not their dried bodies, which " natural selection," owing to the gi-eat differences of their habits, habitats and environment, has made to take such different facies, but the living insects, their eggs, larvte and pupa?. Then he will be able to get over the great "facies" question, and place the species rightly. It is not the first time that we have noticed the NOTICES AND REVIEWS. 71 quaint phrases in which American entomologists sometimes indulge when they wish to point out to us that they liope soon to prove that a species, hitherto considered identical with a European species, is really distinct. It always appears as if they wei'e on the look-out for a deformed leg, a mummified antenna, or something of the kind. Such a phxvase as : " The species has not been critically studied, and the true relation of tlie form is yet in donl)t. The American form may yet prove distinct, though a very close ally to the European insect," will bear no other construction. Why not get the larva and })upa and prove it, instead of looking so far into futurity ? Bri/ophiht, which has much less affinity with Acfoni/cta than has Ma)ii<'strryop)hila. Surely, Feltia and Peridroma, at the best, are but sub-generic names for the use of the specialist. On p. 81, Prof. Smith refers to Ilaworth's subgothira. He says that he has not seen Haworth's work, but this is undoubtedly only a variety of the European Agrotis tritici, and is fully dealt with as such, in The British Noctnae and their Varieties, vol. II,, p. 51. Considering the fact that Prof. Smith considers the Agrotis sub-divisions as sub- genera, it reads very ingenuous on page 131, where he says " This genus (Iladetia) will probably stand sub-division into several genera. Two rather well-marked groups or sub-genera, Xyloj^hasia and Lnpe- rina, have been monographed by me. ... It is likely that, eventually, both of these sub-divisions will take generic rank." Does Prof. Smith really not know that Luperina and Xylophasia are now, and have been for a large number of years, used as representing groups of generic rank, at any rate in Britain, and that something more than a note of this kind is required, to explain to British entomologists why they are wrong ? The onus of proof surely rests on Prof. Smith, and it is much to be regretted that old land-marks are swept away (or, as happens here, re-introduced, as if the author had never heard of their use in the sense ho mentions), without explanation. Our exnlis gets into this sub- genus Xylophasia, according to Prof. Smith. It would be interesting to Britishers to know how it is tliat their generic usage is here so far wrong. Again, on p. 155 a characteristic phrase occurs, showing the tendency to separate the European and American records of common species, the reverse of the spirit which is seeking to bring into inii- formity the work of the two areas. Only so far as this is done, is the catalogue-maker rendering the slightest service to progressive science. / 2 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. If Prof. Smith always acted on the same lines, we should welcome his statement on p. 173, that in his use of Hydroecia he is following European precedent. Helotroplia reniformh, Grote, too, is treated as distinct from our H. lencosiupna, although it is apparently inseparable. On p. 182, we still find the good old method of making Levcan/a (an Agrotid group), follow jV^0H^r;/»-/V/ (an Apamid group), .altliough their early stages show no I'elationship whatever. No one who knew the early stages of the species could possibly fail to sepaiate these divergent groups. The early stages of all our British Lencanias and Nonagriaf^ are known ; would it not be better for Prof. Smith to be guided l\v British work, done in a really scientific manner, rather than to go on perpetuating this palpable blunder ? True, the imagines are of the same colour, but the Professor must know that among the Crambid.ti:, CMlo and its allies have the same facies, but this superficial re- semblance, produced evidently by natural selection under the same environment, has no scientific basis. Here is something, too, for our systematists to digest — the genera Cosmia, Cleoceris, Anchocelis, placed following each other, whilst Pyrrha lunbra (our Heliothis mart/inatus) is sandwiched between Anchocelis and Orthosia. Here, too, is a strange combination : Xanthia, Cirrhocdia, Scoliopteryx (libatrix), Scopelosoiiui , followed by Xylina, nor does our author apparently attempt to separate Xyliiia and Calocampa. Xylina is placed in close contact with Calo- campa, a course which has been everywhere perpetuated and adopted, although proved by recent observation to be entirely erroneous. The Plmiidue, as a whole, are placed before the HcJiothidae. We sat down to this Catalogue with the intention of having a few hours' interesting study ; we rise from its study with a feeling somewhat akin to pain. A most industrious production, it yet lacks that touch which convinces the specialist that the wt>rkman has clinched his sub- ject. Nay, he feels lost repeatedly, he recognises no land-mark to help him, or, if he thinks he does, it is only to find that the compiler is out of touch with the more advanced thought of to- day. Such pioneer work is very necessary. The collecting together of synonyms must be done, but at the same time, an attempt to classify should not show such an utter l)reak-down, such a want of information as to what has been done. If the early stages of nine-tenths of the American Nootuid.tj are unknown, whilst those of nine-tenths of the European Noctuid.^ are known, and if the NocTUiD.ii: of America have their representatives in Europe, surely it is the work of the compiler and classifier to apply the sum total of knowledge obtainable to such work as this. It has been the curse of ovir British Museum work on Lejiidoptera for years and years, that the work done has been (as a rule) performed without the slightest knowledge of contemporary science, with the result that not a single lepidopterist of repute really troubles about the great mass of the Museum work at all. I would especially exclude Kirby and Hampson's work from this animadversion. This Catalogue is what I should call a real Museum production, a compilation requiring herculean labour and immense industry, but one that, when finished, is a stumbling-block to the intelligent workei's of the world, that separates still more the entomologists of Europe and America, that makes science utterly subservient to names, and not names to science. The compilation of synonyms is probably perfect. Then let Professor Smith see what in Europe are the representatives of genera, and tell us why all this mystification. JOURNAL OF VARIATION. No. 4. Vol. VI. March 1st, 1895. £n early V/inter's ^troll. By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. The south-west wind brings up the vapour that gives a misty appearance to tlie late autumn and winter sun which yet radiates a con- siderable warmth that adds pleasure and comfort to an outdoor stroll. The bracken lies here dead and beaten, there, where it has been less exposed under the sturdy oaks which are loth to part with the last remnants of their foliage, in the last golden decay of early winter. Here and there, too, the hawthorns stand out black and grim against the pale and fitful blue of the November sky, whilst great masses of snowy cumulus fade in their lower depths to the watery-grey tint which tells of water ready to be precij^itated almost without notice at this uncertain season. The young gorse attempts to adorn itself with its spring beauties and bears an occasional cluster of golden bloom. The tall herbaceous plants by the hedgeside now brilliant with the red leaves of the bramble which forms a magnificent garland, are bedraggled and dying, and, although — " The banks that wore a smiling green, Bewail their flowery beauties dead" — yet the marvellous autumnal beauties of the fungi arising from the dead ashes of twig and leaf and root, rival in many ways the fairest beauties of summer. Magnificently vivid is this after-glow of Nature's brilliance — palest yellow and delicately tinted heliotrope, charming blue, brightest orange, or a broad table of blood-red crimson gi-OAving from the old oak-stump yonder. Brilliant, but fleeting is their little day. Eapidly they pass back to the decay and putrescence which gave them birth. The vistas of the oak trees in the park attract the entomologist in these late autumn days. They stretch away over the rising ground in masses of fading gold until lost in the grey of the horizon. With trowel and chisel, and a piece of macintosh to sit or kneel upon, he sets forth to pursue his peaceful avocation. What nooks and crannies there are at the surface where an oak-tree enters the ground I What rugosities and scarred seams, what hiding-places and secret nooks the rough bark i)resents ! Wliat cunning is required to find out all the entomological mysteries hidden there, what patience to explore the crannies which one meets ! 74 THE entomologist's record. Under the spreading branches the dead leaves lie. These are often traversed with sinuous windings of delicate intricacy, or disfigured by pale blotches and patches of varying shape. These must be selected, for from them numberless species of the marvellously beautiful Lithocolletidae and Neptimlidae are to be bred. The moss that clothes the trunk near its base must be carefully searched as well as the crannies at the foot of the tree. All the rubbish there must be examined, and what a wealth of insect life one may find — Eurymene dolohraria, Selenia lunaria, Tephrosia consonaria, T. biundularia, Hyhernia lencophaearia, H. marginaria and H. defoUaria may all be found in their cocoons, spun up among the moss on or at the base of the trunk of the tree. Then some of the summer caterpillars have changed to jnipffi, and are to be found among the fallen leaves ; we may find Ephi/raporat