94 l^Vril, 



Ileysham, a prominent border naturalist, probably developed in young Hodgkinson 

 the taste for ornithology and entomology that afterwards became so apparent. 

 Subsequently he was apprenticed to an engineer, and worked for many years as 

 such as a journeyman. When about 40 years of age he, with others, set up in 

 business as a cotton spinner. This business was afterwards given up, and he es- 

 tablished himself as a yarn agent, from which he retired a few years ago. He 

 probably published no lengthy paper, yet the Natural History aud Entomological 

 journals, dating from vol. ii of the " Zoologist" (1814) down almost to the date of 

 his death, gave constant evidence of his untiring activity; but literary work was 

 not his strong point, as numerous editors (who usually had to rewrite his notes) 

 could testify. In this connection it is stated that he kept no notes or accounts of 

 his business transactions, but relied solely on a wonderful memory. It was as a 

 collector that Hodgkinson stood prominently forward. He was emphatically a 

 field naturalist, and his keen eye and an aptitude, bordering on intuition, enabled 

 him to make several notable additions to the British Lepidoptera, and especially 

 amongst the Micros, and also to discover the habits of many others previously rare 

 or little known. Combined with this aptitude he had all the secretiveness of the 

 old school. A prominent feature in his character was an abhorrence of having 

 anything in his collection without a name, and this in some instances led to his 

 hastily publishing new names in cases where presumed experts had declined to 

 give any definite opinion. Possessed of a strong constitution, with untiring energy, 

 his outdoor work was continued almost to the last, and he amassed a collection of 

 British Lepidoptera scarcely second to any. His death leaves a prominent blank 

 in the ranks of our Lepidopterists, especially in the North of England, where, 

 years ago, he was one of a numerous band of contemporaries, of whom Mr. C. S. 

 Gregson is almost the only survivor. He leaves a widow, two sons and five 

 daughters to mourn his loss. 



Cambridge Entomological and Natural History Society : February 

 12th, 1897.— Dr. Sharp, President, in the Chair. 



The President showed a remarkable stridulating apparatus in a larva of the 

 Coleopterous genus Passalits, recently sent by Mr. C. Hose from Borneo. This 

 larva possesses two pairs of largely developed legs, while each leg of the third 

 pair remains a mere rudiment, but is much altered in form so as to be like a small 

 paw with four or five chitinous digits at the extremity wherewith to play on a 

 striated area on the coxa of the leg before it. He remarked that Passalid larvae are 

 very abundant in logs in the tropics, and that Mr. Champion had informed him 

 that he had heard stridulation proceeding from such logs in Panama. The President 

 also said it was difficult to imagine what use such an elaborate organ could be to 

 larvae, especially when they led a life of the kind mentioned. He also demonstrated 

 the stridulation of Coleoptera by means of a large individual of the Longicorn genus 

 Batocera, which produced a rather loud sound when the appropriate movements 

 were made. Mr. Fleet exhibited some Coleoptera, including the blister-beetle and 

 Apion astragali, taken at Cambridge some years ago by Mr. Rippoii. — C. J. 

 Wilkinson, Hon, Secretary. 



