320 THE entomologist's record. 



greatest number of insects seen during the summer was probably on 

 June 6th. Taking squares of the snow measuring 2x2 feet, he 

 calculated that there must have been many hundreds of living insects 

 on each such square, and adds : " On May 23rd, I marked out nine such 

 squares and counted all the insects within them. There was an 

 average of 29 in each, six of which were dead, and only one of which 

 was not an aphis, therefore, there must have been about 400,000 

 aphides upon the summit on that day. On that day a small hand basin 

 of water, which had been standing outside near the observatory for not 

 more than 36 hours, contained at least 300 flies, &c. The mountain top 

 was buzzing with life .... All these insects are not indigenous 

 to the mountain top, but must be carried up by warm currents. It is in 

 the neighbourhood of the first and second gorges that insects are most 

 plentiful, and they are doubtless swept up by the strong draughts peculiar 

 to these gullies .... Careful examination was made, on a few 

 occasions, of the debris upon remaining patches of snow, when it was 

 found to be composed almost entirely of insect remains. The snow has 

 sometimes been quite blackened by such debris as if covered with soot, 

 but, although soot may partly account for the blackness, yet, on the 

 few occasions I made an examination, it proved to be quite a minor 

 factor. On the morning of Way 24th I made a round of the squares 

 marked out on the 23rd, and found that 93 per cent, of the insects had 

 perished. The surface of the snow was then crisply frozen. This great 

 slaughter takes place in the night, for, in the daytime, the cold does not 

 appear to have any great effect upon them. Many of these insects are 

 very active on the snow and often appear to be as lively upon it as 

 upon a window-pane." 



Staudinger and Rebel's Catalogue.* 



[Continued from j). 287.) 



Of the changes just referred to, all those given in Pint. Bcc, ii.,are 

 accepted with the following exceptions — iij)silon-(/raeci(in, G oeze, populi, 

 Strom, respertaria, Thnb., coreulata, Hfn., nehtdata, Thnb., and flavi- 

 cata, Thnb. Of those accepted, nearly all are unquestionably sound, 

 and writers can now adopt them without risking a charge of eccen- 

 tricity ; the only one which the reviewer has not checked personally 

 is the much-controverted vespiformis, L. (now determined Q,^ = cynipi- 

 formis, Esp.). Of the six which are rejected, ypsilon-t/raecnm is 

 founded on De Geer's immortal " Memoires," and the identity of 

 the species with the or of Fabricius can hardly be doubtful 

 enough to justify Staudinger' s query against it ; but when Schiffer- 

 miiller's names are reinstated, as they will probably have to be, 

 it will be permissible to resume the use of the naiiie or Schiff. (teste 

 Fb.).''' It is equally difficult to understand why Staudinger has 



* '^Catalog der Lepidoptcren des palaearctischen Faunenfiebietes," von Dr. 

 Phil. O. Staudinger unci Dr. Phil. H. llebel. Dritte Aullage des " Cataloges des 

 europaischen Faunengebietes." Berlin : K. Friedliinder und Sohn. Mai, 1901. 



I. Theil : Fam. Fapilionidae — Hepialidae, von Dr. 0. Staudinger und Dr. H. Eebel ; 



II. Theil: Fam. Fyralidae — 3Iicropterygidae, \on Dr. H.'ReheL xxxii + 411-|-308 

 pp. in 8vo. 



* Unless, indeed, the view of Haworth, Guenee, Wallengren, and Aurivillius 

 be accepted, i.e., that this is the truejiavicornis of Linne, in which case Jiavicornis, 

 Auctt., will appear as cinerea, Goeze. In any event, to give the two species as 

 flavicornis, L. andiflavicornis, Esp., as Garbowski has done, is a gross violation of 

 the laws of homonymy. 



