kETIWSPECT OF A LEPIDOPTKRIST. 



5 



Of the sepcarate works published, there are Mayer's two brochures : — 

 " The wing, wing-scales, and their pigments in butterflies and moths," 

 and " The colour and colour-patterns of moths and butterflies." " Die 

 Palaearktischen Gross-schmetterlinge," an excellent book (Standfuss). 

 " Die Schmettcrlings-fauna von Hildesheim. Erster Theil : Tag- 

 falter" (Grote). "Economic Entomology" (J. B. Smith). To 

 British lepidopterists, the publication of another volume of " Larv?e 

 of British Butterflies and Moths," excellently edited, and in part 

 written, by Mr. G. T. Porritt, is the most important (perhaps, the 

 only important) addition to the library for this year. Mr. N. M. 

 Richardson's "List of Portland Lcpidoptera " we have already 

 favourably noticed. We can call nothing else to mind worthy of 

 special mention. 



We have, as usual, a few adverse criticisms to offer. Mr. Rickard 

 continues to find "Fungi parasitic on the wings of butterflies" 

 (EntiHii). Such papers as this bring upon us the contempt of foreign 

 lepidopterists. Then Mr. G. W. Smith, in " Melanism and climatal con- 

 ditions " {Kntom.), thinks that " moisture cannot increase the melanic 

 tendencies in insects " because "light-coloured species such asMacmi/asWr 

 arnndinis, etc., are present in especially marshy districts." I can hardly 

 hope that Mr. Smith will so far honour me as to read Mcianisni and 

 M(ian(H-hruinm in British Li'pidoptcra, pp. 21-22. Mr. Barrett, describ- 

 ing [l^'nt. Mo. Mail.) some specimens of Luperina {Dianthoecia) Intcaiio, 

 captured by Mr. Ficklin, in Cornwall, says : " They represent a local 

 race, different from those hitherto known," and calls them, " to be 

 strictly accurate, D. hiteaijo var. barirttii." How they can be this 

 variety if " they represent a local race different from "it, "I do not 

 quite understand." Mr. Harding {tint. Mu. Ma;/.) lumps together 

 " Setina irrordla, aurita and rainosa as climatic varieties of the same 

 species," because, so far as I understand his note, his Cotswold cap- 

 tures of .S'. irrordla are in better condition than those in his collection 

 from other British localities. Mr. Sbepheard Walwyn [Entom.) is 

 surprised that Apatda {Acronycta) aceris should occur in Kensington. 

 Even Newman would have dissipated this surprise. Dr. Knaggs 

 [Kntom.) says that " A liassic soil, such as occurs at Charmouth, 

 seems to " him " to be a very unlikely one for hondii to inhabit." This 

 opinion is unfortunate, for Mr. Earn, thirteen years ago [Entom., xvii., 

 p. 211), states that he took it there, and reiterates the statement 

 [Entom. Rec, ix., p. 385). Mr. South, re the capture of Lampides 

 boetica, made by the late Mr. Neil Mc Arthur, falls [Entom.) into an 

 oft-repeated error, corrected both in the F.ntom. Record, viii., p. 87, 

 and also in British Butterjiies, pp. 193-94. Mr. Imms [Entom.) 

 found Z. filipendulae larva) swarming on almost every flower of 

 ragwort at Barmouth. We should like to know what they were doing 

 there I ! The present writer has also made a stupid of himself in 

 his paper on Xi/yaena medicayinis [Knton. Record), and it will require 

 a sheet or two of foolscap (well earned) to put the matter straight. 

 This finishes the humours of the year. 



There are one or two personal items that should not be overlooked. 

 Mr. Elwes has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, an honour 

 now rarely bestowed on entomologists. Professor Poulton has offered 

 a statue of Charles Darwin to the University of Oxford, and the 

 University has accepted the offer. The Rev. Canon Fowler and Mr. 



