140 THE entomologist's record. 



13s. 9d., and an important Annual Fwport of 32 pp. is somethings 

 indeed, of which to be proud. Will not the members give us the first 

 instalment of a county list next time ? 



The City of London Entomological and Natural History Society 

 has published its Transactions for 1900 betimes. It appears in this 

 respect to have outstripped the South London Society, and we believe 

 we yet await the last part of the Transactions of the Ent. <S'o(\ of London 

 for 1900. The current volume shows a good year's work under the 

 able presidency of Mr. Prout, and there are some good papers therein. 

 The presidential address is, in itself, a most useful paper to the 

 lepidopterist, but the paper of the Transactions is Mr. Heasler's 

 interesting " Secondary sexual characters in British coleoptera," which 

 is quite out of the ordinary run of papers submitted by coleopterists^ 

 especially students of British coleoptera. Mr. Kaye's paper " The 

 re-classilication of the lepidoptera," tempts one to criticism, but the 

 author will be sure to eliminate many of the more crude remarks when 

 he has a more detailed knowledge of some of the subjects treated ; Dr. 

 Chapman's notes " A few days at Fusio," will have to be read by all 

 students of European Rhopalocera for the interesting facts relating to 

 the Lyciienids. Very welcome, too, is the continuation of the List of 

 the I^cjiidoptcra of the London Fauna, which has now been completed to 

 the end of the Macro-Lepidoptera. Altogether an important volume of 

 great scientific value, Avhich will have a degree of usefulness in direct 

 proportion to its distribution. 



The first part of Das Tierreich relating to the lepidoptera has come 

 to hand. It relates to the small family JJbt/theidae, and is by Dr. A. 

 Pagenstecher. As a catalogue it is everything that can be desired ; as 

 a summary of what is known of the group, from the natural history 

 standpoint, it is exceedingly meagre. A description that sums up the 

 life-history of Libi/thea celtis as "Larva green on C'eltis axstralis. Pupa 

 green," can hardly be treated as serious science in the commence- 

 ment of the twentieth century. The neuration is named in the 

 old undesirable fashion — the costa ignored, the subcostal called the 

 costal, the radial called the subcostal, the median the radial, the 

 cubital is designated the median, and the anal the submedian. On the 

 generic question the author adopts the safe but unscientific principle of 

 subgenera, which he practically sinks after diagnosing them. For 

 ourselves, if the next evolutionary group above species be a genus, we 

 see no reason for the scientist to pander to the howls of the ignorant, 

 and prefer to call a spade a spade, instead of knowing that it is a spade 

 and calling it something else. 



©OLE OPT ER A . 



Bagous cylindrus, Payk., in Bedfordshire. — On December 27th 

 last I was collecting coleoptera near Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, 

 by cutting and shaking grass tufts in damp places, and turned out three 

 specimens of Bayous ci/Undrns in splendid condition. I worked for an 

 hour or two and took a large number of species, the above being the 

 most noteworthy. I am not aware of its occurrence so far north before. 

 Former localities : — Notting Hill (Power) ; Hammersmith Marshes 

 (Stevens); Gravesend (Power and Stevens); London district (Stephens); 

 Lee, Sheppey, Whitstable (Champion) ; Pett Marshes, near Hastings 

 (Ford) ; Colchester (Harwood). — H. Willoughby Ellis, F.E.S., 

 Westlyn, Knowle, Warwickshire. 



