1905.] 95 



genus described by Renter under the name of Murhynchioeoris belongs to this sub- 

 l?ainily, but I have not seen it, and it is impossible from the description to arrange 

 it in the synopsis, as Renter has not mentioned the presence or absence of ocelli." 

 At pp. 312-13, I have enumerated the genus and species, copying his description, 

 Including the length of rostrum, but stating that I had not seen them. 



Dr. Renter also remarks that the structure of the spinous odoriferous orifices 

 is reproduced in Distant's drawings, " although he has not attached any particular 

 weight to it." This criticism needs qualification ; so far from attaching no weight 

 to this character, I have throughout the volume, with few unavoidable exceptions, 

 given a careful figure of that character with each generic illustration. 



In my introduction I stated, " I have not attempted written descriptions of such 

 details as the important but obscure odoriferous apertures to be found in the meta- 

 sternum. These, by the aid of joint effort with the artist, have been so accurately 

 portrayed, as to prove that a good figure of a functional structure is far more 

 trustworthy than any diagnostic composition." 



As I have stated, these volumes on the Rhynchotal fauna of British India are 

 faunistic publications, and not taxonoraical treatises, and the editorial decision is 

 that brevity in description is better followed. However, I expect that both Dr. 

 Renter and myself agi'ee on most points, save that with most Rhynchotists I regard 

 the JJrostyl'mse as a subfamily only of the Pentatomidie, and that I attach more 

 importance to the presence or absence of ocelli than he— possibly through an inad- 

 vertence — appears to do. — W. L. Distant, Steine House, Selhurst Road, South 

 Norwood : March, 1905. 



©bituanj. 



Alfred Beaumont. — It is with sincere regret that we record the death of 

 Mr. Alfred Beaumont, which took place suddenly at his residence at Gosfield, 

 Essex, on the evening of Monday, February 21st, in the seventy-fourth year of his 

 age. He was a subscriber to this Magazine from its commencement, and an 

 occasional contributor to its pages, but he wrote little himself on his Entomological 

 work, often preferring that others should record his captures and observations, as 

 the Entomological Journals and books show. He was one of the oldest field 

 naturalists in the country, and almost the oldest Fellow of the Entomological 

 Society of London, having been elected in 1851. 



Born at Honley, near Huddersfield, his early schooldays were spent at 

 Storthes Hall, under the tutorship of the late Mr. Peter Inchbald, who in his 

 day was well known throughout the country as a successful Entomologist. As 

 schoolfellows he there met the late Mr. J. W. Dunning and Mr. T. H. AUis, both 

 of whom with himself soon imbibed their master's zeal for Entomology, which all 

 three retained to the end of their lives. It was at Storthes Hall too, we believe, 

 that he first met as a visitor to Mr. Inchbald the late Mr. H. T. Stainton, and the 

 subsequent long years of intimate friendship between Inchbald, Stainton, Dunning 

 and Beaumont was only broken by the death of each. On leaving school, Mr. 

 Beaumont joined his father's lai'ge woollen manufacturing business at Steps Mills, 

 Honley, and subsequently became the head of it. He early became associated with 

 the Huddersfield Naturalists' Society, then chiefly composed of working men, and 



