202 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



(including the Trichoptera), in which he soon became a 

 recognised authority. To the great advantage of his own 

 studies and of entomology generally, he soon threw aside 

 insular limitations, and entered into active correspondence 

 with Hagen, de Selys, Brauer, and others, and up to within the 

 last few years of his life there were few prominent students 

 of Neuroptera on either side of the Atlantic with whom he 

 was not or had not been in touch. Hagen's correspondence 

 was invaluable ; this excellent worker (like Fritz Mliller) had 

 the habit of illuminating his subject by means of sketches 

 introduced into his letters, and when M'Lachlan and the 

 writer were working together on the Hcmerobiidce a few 

 years ago, more than one knotty point in synonymy was 

 cleared up by a reference to Hagen's old letters. 



M'Lachlan wrote much, but his work was always solid. 

 His connection with magazine work was almost unique, as he 

 was for forty years one of the editors of the " Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine," and the principal after Stainton's death 

 in 1893. Many of his papers appeared in its pages, but he 

 also contributed widely to the " Transactions " of the different 

 learned Societies in this country and of the foreign Societies 

 with which he was honourably connected. His great work, 

 however, was his " Monographic Revision and Synopsis of the 

 Trichoptera of the European Fauna." If he had written 

 nothing else this would of itself have commended him to 

 the respect of all entomologists. It is a first-rate piece of 

 original research, and a model of what a systematic work 

 should be. 



When eighteen years of age, M'Lachlan made a voyage, 

 extending over thirteen months, to Australia and China. 

 At that time his bent was Botany, and he made a large 

 collection of plants. Later he made almost annual excur- 

 sions to the Continent (frequently en rotite paying a visit 

 to his great friend de Selys), exploring the Alps of 

 Dauphine and Savoy, the Pyrenees and other parts, where 

 he accumulated vast materials which were of use to him 

 in writing his Monograph. He was a most energetic collector, 

 and he worked as hard in the field as in the study. Twice 

 he visited Scotland. On the first occasion, in 1865, he 

 went to Rannoch when the accommodation there was still 



