1878.J 263 



" myriads." We are quite sure he would not do so if he had seen some of the 

 " pictures " or " designs " that we hare seen, not composed of entire insects, but of such 

 parts of them as suited the " artist's" purpose, such as the eye-spots of Vanessa lo, 

 tiie orange-tips of Anthocharis cardamines, &c. He is quite justified in assuming 

 that we have no wish to discourage our working collectors, the majority of whom we 

 believe to be fully of the same opinion as ourselves with regard to " pictures." We 

 do not by any means desire to turn away the working man from the pure, liealthy, 

 and harmless pursuit of entomology; on the contrary, we earnestly wish to encourage 

 him in it. And, while sharpening his powers of observation by studying his captures, 

 it seems to us he will not be likely to visit the public house, — where he might be 

 tempted to go to show his " picture," if he made one. We request that any 

 further remarks on this subject may be in as few words as possible. — Eds.]. 



Dbituarg. 



JEdouard Ferris died very recently at Mont-de-Marsan (Landes), France, in which 

 town he was long resident. Entomology in general (and in France in particular) 

 has sustained a loss that it will be difficult to make up. The name of Ferris is worthy 

 of being placed in the same category as those of his two great compatriots, 

 Eeaumur and Leon Dufour. Of the latter of these he was a disciple ; but Dufour 

 especially excelled as an anatomist and physiologist, whereas Ferris was emphatically 

 a biologist, and there are few who have done so much in the patient working-out of 

 the hfe-histories of insects, and above all of Coleoptera and Diptera. He was not a 

 systematist, and rarely described new species, or, if he did so, the descriptions did 

 not apply to the imagos only, but to their habits and metamorphoses also. The 

 notices of his discoveries have enriched the pages of (chiefly) tlie Annales de la 

 Societe Entomologique de France for nearly forty years, sometimes as short articles, 

 sometimes in the form of monographs, as in the case of his " Histoire des Insectes 

 du Pin maritime," which was commenced in 1852, and continued appearing almost 

 annually by large instalments up to 1857, illustrated by 10 plates, probably forming 

 the most complete work in existence on the insects affecting a particular plant or 

 tree. What was perhaps his earliest paper appeared in 1838 ; his latest (or nearly 

 so) was a lengthy article in the " Annales " for 1876, under the title of " Nouvelles 

 promenades entomologiques," giving the results of his observations in the form of a 

 calendar for an entire year, and teeming with biological information on nearly all 

 Orders of insects ; a supplement thereto was read at the Meeting of the Society, on 

 the 12th December last. 



At this moment we are not sure of liis exact age, but he was advanced in years. 

 In May, 1876, he wrote, " Je regrctte que mon ago m'empechc do fairc de longues 

 chasses et ^ grandes distances comme jadis," but the handwriting was firm and 

 distinct. In the town of Mont-de-Marsan he held the position of " Vice-Prc^sident 

 du Conseil de prefecture." His collections, which must be very rich biologically, 

 have been left to his fellow-townsman and co-worker Dr. fimilc Gobcrt. 



George Guyon. This gentleman, although little known to the present race of 

 entomologists, devoted much of his time to the examination of insects of various 

 Orders, especially Coleoptera, and also to such collecting as his delicate health per- 



