1897.] 253 



M. Tournier, who has bred both sexes, remarks that he has ob- 

 tained them from twigs of Berheris and ash, but never from bramble, 

 the latter always producing atratus. I have generally found atratus 

 (i. e., palhpes) in palings, mud-walls, thatch, &c , and I believe that 

 my specimen of concoloi' came from an old gate-post. Most of the 

 bramble-piercing insects {e.g., Pcmpliredon, Trypoxylon, Prosopis,&c.) 

 seem ready to bore, or perhaps to utilize existing holes, in various 

 materials, and not to confine themselves exclusively to bramble-stems. 



It is quite likely that other British examples of Psen concolor 

 may exist in collections, mixed with the common species. If so, they 

 may easily be distinguished by the characters given above, and it would 

 be very desirable that their possessors should record them. 



Woking : October, 1897. 



An important proposed work on the Iloths of the World. — We have much 

 pleasure in reprinting the Prospectus of this gigantic National undertaking. — Eds. 



" Prospectus of a Series of Volumes on the Lepidoptera Phalcence of the Whole 

 World, to be published by the Trustees of the British Museum.— Tae Trustees of the 

 British Museum having sanctioned the publication of a series of volumes on the 

 Moths of the World, and entrusted Sir George Hampson with the commencement 

 of the work, I beg to call your attention, as being interested in the classification of 

 the Lepidoptera, to the following scheme, which has been approved of for the work. 

 The chief want of entomologists working at this subject at the present time is a 

 comparative analysis of the genera in each family, on the lines of the classification 

 originated by Herrich-Schiiffer and Lederer for the European fauna, and amplified 

 of late years by Snellen, Meyrick, J. B. Smith, E. L. Ragonot and others, for various 

 groups of the Paleearctic, Nearctic, Oriental and Australian faunas, and it is thought 

 that the best way to supply this want is by the publication of such a work as the 

 following. 



(1). The size of the work to be large 8vo, similar to the Catalogues of Birds, 

 Reptiles, &c., each volume to consist of about 500 pages, the exact number 

 being regulated with a view to completing the classification of a family or 

 subfamily ; each volume to be complete in itself, with its own index. 

 (2). The general arrangement of the work, and of each family and genus, to be from 

 the more specialized to the most generalized forms, the arrangement being 

 modified so as to make the system as natural as possible. 

 (3). The work to contain synopses and descriptions of the families, genera, and 

 species of Moths, every described species, about which any exact information 

 can be gained, being included, references only being given to those whose sys- 

 tematic position cannot be ascertained with tolerable exactitude, and no new 

 species being described except such as are represented in the British National 

 Collection. 

 (4). No catalogue of specimens will be included, but a somewhat full and minute 



