"(1 REVIEWS. 



error," and, in a note, "Mr. Dale's remarks, in a letter read before the 

 Dublin University Zoological Association, explain* how the mistake occurred 

 in regard to this species." I assert, point-blank, that they do not, for the 

 best of all possible reasons, that they cannot; nor can he or any one else 

 ever do so, unless indeed some evidence never yet brought forward should 

 be produced; and to prove this assertion, I here quote the observations 

 I made on this subject in "The Naturalist," vol. iv., p. 139: — 



"2ndly., as to the Vanessa Hampstediensis. — Let it be observed how 

 guarded I was in what I said of it in my account. — 'The only specimen 

 of this insect that has ever yet been recorded, was captured at Hampstead, 

 near London, by Albin, and then first described and figured by Petiver. 

 It has since been continuously figured and described by succeeding Ento- 

 mologists, who have faithfully copied the original picture. By some it has 

 been considered a foreign specimen, accidentally imported; by others as 

 the product of two different species. The specimen is however no longer 

 in existence, and cannot speak for itself; no 'Ecce signum' can now testify 

 to the truthfulness of the Entomologist who shall pretend more accurately 

 to describe it, than in the stereotyped form which has come down to the 

 present day.' 



Mr. Dale said that I ought not to admit it at all, because it must 

 have been a mistake of Petiver to say that Albin took it at Hampstead, 

 and that he must have meant the 'Isle of Amsterdam/ 



To this I replied, and reply, — 



1st. — That Petiver's express words are, (I quote from my copy of 

 Haworth,) 'Papilio oculatus Hampstediensis ex aureo fuscus, (Albin's Hamp- 

 stead Eye,) where it loas caught by this curious person, and is the only one 

 I have yet seen.' 



2ndly. — That if he had meant the 'Isle of Amsterdam/ he would have 

 said so. 



3rdly. — That Amstelodamum being the Latin for Amsterdam, the word 

 in this case would have been Amstclvdamensis, and not Hampstediensis. 



4thly. — That Hampstediensis means 'of Hampstead.' 



5thly. — That the Isle of Amsterdam is described as a barren rock in 

 the Indian Ocean, on which it was remarkable that not a single insect was 

 to be found except the Common Fly! 



He then said that there were three Isles of Amsterdam; but he could 

 neither tell me in which of the three the Butterfly was taken, nor when, 

 nor by whom. 



Gthly. — That every Entomologist of eminence, down to Stephens and 

 Curtis, has given it as British. 



'The very height and front' of my 'gravamina et reformanda' 'hath this 

 offence no more.' " 



