278 (December, 



South European plant, and belongs to the Olcaccv, to which Order the other 

 three food-plants mentioned also belong-. Though, doubtless, in Soiithern 

 Europe, the species of rhillyrea are often attacked by the larvu) of this moth, 

 I do not find any such observation recorded in any of the Continental faiinal 

 lists I possess.^ALFKED SiCH, Corney House, Chiswick .- November 10th, 1911, 



Notes on Oxford Heniiptera. — Last August, at Cothill, near Abingdon, I was 

 fortunate enough to take a nice lot of Scoloxiostethus pictus, Scliill., in some rot- 

 ting clover at the bottom of a stack. They had evidently lired in this refuse, 

 as the larva) were also present in numbers. The mature specimens were all 

 of the usual macropterous form. Dimng the same month I fovind a specimen of 

 Aphclochcirus lestivalis, F., amongst Potamogeton dragged out of the River 

 Chorwell. Although on several subsequent occasions I kept a sharp look out, 

 I did not see any more. The Oxford records for this species, by the Rev. F. W. 

 Hope and Prof. Westwood, are very old, one of them dating as far back as 1832, 

 the other still further back. While with Commander Walker on Aug. 26th at 

 Enslow Bridge, Oxon, I took a specimen of Drymus pilicornis, M. et Rey, in 

 some aquatic refuse on the canal bank, near its junction with the River Cher- 

 well. Another noteworthy capture was that of two macropterous specimens of 

 Piczostethus ciirsitans. Fall., luider oak bark at Wytham Park on October 1st, 

 1911, with plenty of the much commoner brachypterous form. — J. Collins, 

 Oxford: November, 1911. 



Ifiuica^s. 



The Genitalia of the Group Noctuid^ of the Lepidoptera of the 

 British Islands. By F. N. Pierce, P.E.S. Liverpool: C. W. Duncan. 



We regret that by an oversight no notice of this important work has 

 hei'etofore appeared in our columns. For the sake of those readers to whom its 

 fame has not in the meantime i-eached, we take the opportunity afforded by the 

 promise of a companion volume on the Geometridae from the same pen, briefly to 

 call attention to it. Mr. Pierce is one of the pioneers in a branch of anatomical 

 research, of whicli the full value and significance has only just come to be 

 appreciated, and his book embodies the researches of 20 years. The author has 

 wisely abstained from proposing a re-classification based on a single character, 

 and has contented himself with describing and figuring the genitalia of the 

 several species, and occasionally calling attention to the more obvious relation- 

 ships or more glaring defects of our present groupings. In a word, Mr. Pierce 

 provides the data, and leaves it to future systematists to turn them to account. 

 The book should be in the hands of all serious workers. 



Our Insect Friends and Foes. By P. Martin .Duncan, F.R.P.S. 

 London : Methuon & Co., Ltd., 36, Essex Street, Strand. 1911. 



In this well got-up little book of 296 pages, the author gives an account in 



