xl PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



London, and went to reside at Hayes, near Uxbridge, where he 

 occupied himself for five years in studying the economy of noxious 

 insects in the field and garden. 



In 1849 he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Natural 

 History Society of Nuremberg ; and ia 1855 he was chosen an 

 Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of Paris, of which 

 he had, however, been an ordinary Member since 1834. In the 

 autumn and whiter of 1850 he visited Nice, Genoa, Turin, and the 

 North of Italy, returning by the Tyrol and Switzerland ; and in the 

 latter part of 1851, he visited Pan, the various cities along the 

 Mediterranean, Venice, Florence, Lombardy, Switzerland, and 

 Prance, — continuing, nevertheless, to furnish communications on 

 entomological subjects to various publications, and, amongst 

 these, one to the ' Linnean Transactions,' in 1852, " On the 

 Economy of a New Species of Saw-fly (Selandria Sobinsoni), the 

 larvse of which feed upon Convallaria multijiora^'' and a " Notice 

 regarding a Weevil of the Vine and its Parasite (RhyncMtes 

 Betuleti),^^ in the ' Proceedings' for 1853 ; " On the genus Myr- 

 mica and other indigenous Ants," in the ' Linnean Transactions,' 

 1854, «fcc. 



The publication of so national a work as the ' British Entomo- 

 logy,' together with the great practical utility of his numerous 

 memoirs on economic entomology, fully justified the grant of an 

 annuity of £100 which was conferred some years since upon 

 Mr. Ciirtis, and subsequently augmented by an additional £50 on 

 the occiu-rence of a sad event which took place shortly after the 

 first grant of the pension, namely, the total loss of sight, induced, 

 it is supposed, by the overstraining of the eyes in the execution 

 of his numerous and laborious works. 



Resigned to this great misfortune, Mr. Curtis retired from 

 scientific life, in which for forty years he had taken such an active 

 part ; and soon afterwards his friends were grieved to learn that 

 he was suffering from the severe illness which terminated in his 

 decease last year. 



The collection of British insects formed by Mr. Curtis is of 

 great value, from its extent and the number of original types in aU 

 the different orders which it contains. It is also a model of the 

 greatest neatness and order. This, in fact, was one of the great 

 peculiarities of Mr. Curtis, and pervaded all he did and all he 

 possessed — his library being in the choicest condition, and his 

 drawings most cai'efully finished. A little anecdote communicated 

 to Mr. Westwood by Mr. Frederick Smith well illustrates this pe- 



