212 [September, 



^biiuanj. 



Ottmar Ilofmann {Sept. 20th, 19,^^— Feb. 22nd, 1900).— Our April number 

 contained a brief notice of tlie death of Dr. Ottmar Hofmann : some additional 

 particulars of a life devoted to special study may be interesting to many of our 

 readers, his name having been long familiar to English entomologists through the 

 writings of the late Mr. H. T. Stainton, to whom lie rendered much valuable as- 

 sistance, and whose high appreciation was testified by the dedication of the eighth 

 volume of the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer in the following words : — " To 

 Doctor Ottmar Hofmann, in return for the pleasure we experienced on beholding 

 the long-sought larva of Nemotois scabiosellus, this volume is dedicated as an en- 

 couragement to persevere in his path of discovery." 



Born at Frankfurt a/M on September 20th, 1835, he went with his parents to 

 Kegensburg in 1846, where his acquaintance with Herrich-Schiiffer led to the pub- 

 lication of their collaborated work, " Die Lepidopteren-Fauna der Regensburger 

 Umgegend " {Regenshurg, 1854 — 8), and probably contributed to engage his interest 

 and attention in the pursuit of Entomological research, for which he and his 

 brother Ernst (who predeceased him) must have inherited some inclination. When 

 studying for the medical profession at Eriangen he was selected by Professor Will 

 as Assistant for Comparative Anatomy, and tiirougliout his life exhibited the effects 

 of tliis early training in his endeavours to correlate homologous structures and to 

 illustrate his special studies by comparisons extending over a far wider field of 

 research. In Medical practice he was no less distinguished than in Entomology, 

 being at the time of his death " Kgl. Regierungs- und Kreismedicinalrath," but 

 although obliged to rely upon the former as a profession, his preference appears to 

 have been given to the latter, and especially to the study of critical differences of 

 structure and obscure life-histories of European Micro-Lepidoptera. He was no 

 mere collector of specimens, his object, as exemplified by his collections and by the 

 numerous microscopic preparations which accompany them, was obviously to clear 

 up doubts and fill up deficiencies in recorded knowledge, and in the pursuit of this 

 object no time or careful industry was grudged — an example may be quoted in the 

 case of his new genus Colopteryx (published in 1897), the unique type of which 

 has been neatly bisected, the wings of one half denuded for structural examination, 

 and mounted in a microscopic slide. 



A long series of publications was tlie natural result of untiring devotion to 

 study — among his more important papers, " Ueber die Naturgeschichte der Psycliiden" 

 {Berlin, 1860), had procured him the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the previous 

 year. " Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte der Tineinen " {Stettin, 1868), and " Beitrage 

 zur Naturgeschichte der Coleophoren " {Stettin, 1869), were notable papers, and 

 " Beitrage zur Kenntnisse der Coleophoren " {Eegensburg, 1877), niay bo mentioned 

 as another specially useful contribution. 



In his " Untersuchungen iiber Sciaphila Wahlbomiana, Linn., und verwandte 

 Arten " {Stettin, 1872) [translated by Stainton, Ent. Ann., 1873, 50 — 67] he made 

 a bold and well-considered effort to correct the synonymy of Staudinger and 

 Wocke's Catalog — a task which had not been seriously attempted by any other en- 

 tomologist. The genitalia of both sexes, and the larvre of tlie various forms, were 

 carefully studied, attention being called to newly discovered structural differences in 

 both stages. 



