187- ) 2G3 



In addition to the more elaborate memoirs, the '' Proceedings " contain many 

 interesting and valuable notes by various members, an account of the principal 

 objects exliibited at the meetings of the Society, a summary of the discussions Ihere- 

 anent, and finally the Annual Ackli'ess of the President, which contains a resume of 

 the Entomological doings for the year, both at home and abroad. 



Even this does not exhaust the publications of the Entomological Society for 

 1876. Another part (the fifth) of the Greneral Catalogue of the Insects of the 

 British Isles was issued ; and this part comprises the Hemiptera- Heteroptera, and 

 the main portion of the Homoptera, giving the synonymy of upwards of 700 species, 

 compiled by Messrs. Douglas and Scott. 



The Secretaryship of the Society is no sinecure ; and to say nothing of other 

 duties, the editing of the publications and seeing them through the press is in itself 

 a work for which many thanks are due to Mr. Grut. 



A few errors have escaped author and editor alike. For instance, Pcecilus 

 (Trans., p. 4) is a misprint for Pcecilus ; Fimpilides (p. 479) for Pimplides ; 

 Lathrohium minor (p. 239) should be L. minus ; Sunius bispinus (p. 301) is probably 

 a mistake for hispinis ; Derecyrta deceptus (p. 474), Rliopalum carbonaria (p. 484), 

 and Lasia rufovestitus (p. 509), can hardly be defended ; Prosopis\iVis, hitherto been 

 treated as feminine, so that P. relegatus and capitosus (p. 485) will scarcely accord 

 ■with their congeners ; Acaidhidce (p. 621) and Peduvidce (p. 623) should of course 

 be AcanthiidcB and ReduviidcB ; and the Latino-Greek hybrid, Cryptocerus pallidi- 

 cephalus (p. 606) must have crept in by inadvertence. 



The President, not content with describing new species, insists upon discovering 

 new islands. Thus, of Systropus spliegoides, he says (p. 576) : " Habitat in insula 

 Makassar. Etiam in insula Celebes." Unless my memory is at fault, there is no 

 Island of Makassar, but the town of Makassar is in the Island of Celebes. Again, of 

 Astychina Jlavicollis, he says (p. 495) : " Habitat in insula Malayana Dorci dicta." 

 I am under the impression that there is no Island of Dorey, and that the town of 

 Dorey is in New Guinea ; and on this point I cite the authority of Prof. West wood 

 himself, who in Trans. Ent. Soc, 1870, p. 128, describes a CurcuUonellus doreianus, 

 and says of it : " Hab. — In Nova Guinea (Dorey)." 



Mis-speUings like Omalium (p. 402), Thora.cophorus (p. 418), Oycodes (p. 516), 

 and Ploiaria (p. 623), have doubtless been intentionally retained, because the 

 names were so mis-spelt by the original nomcnclators. But the compilers of the 

 Catalogue of Hemiptera have emancipated themselves from that reverence for 

 blunders which still enthrals some of the writers in the Transactions. In accordance 

 •with the suggestions of the Kev. T. A. Marshall (Ent. Mo. Mag., iv, 280), eyesores 

 like Eysarcoris, cripples like Ceraleptus and Myrmedobia, and misbegotten de- 

 formities like Systellonotus and Temnostethus, are replaced by Eusarcocoris (p. 3), 

 Ceratoleptus (p. 8), Myrmedonobia (p. 49), Systolonotus (p. 86), and Tmetostethus 

 (p. 50). And following in the same course the compilers have amended Arytaina 

 into Arytcena (p. 91), Kybos into Cybus (p. 79), Dikraneura into Dicranoneura 

 (p. 80), and Stroggylocephalus into Sirongylocephalus (p. 74). But even in the 

 Catalogue we find Beduvina (p. 55), and Tettigo^iidce (p. 78), instead o{ Jieduviina 

 and Tettigoniidce ; Leptopterna ferrugatus and dolobratus (p. 27) ; Delphax (p. 66), 

 which is mascidine, is made feminine ; rightly as some, but wrongly as others, say, 

 Pediopsis (p. 77) and Euptcryx (p. 82) are made masculine ; and Phytocoris niyrita 



