54 THE kntomologist's record. 



The Presidential Address delivered by the Rev. Canon Fowler, 

 dealt chiefly with the question of Protective Resemblance and Mimicry 

 in the case of the Coleoptera, a branch of the subject concerning which 

 l)ut little has been recorded, although Mimicry in this order is quite as 

 important as in the case of the Lepidoptera ; as a matter of fact 

 beetles are protected in many ways : P>y a hard integument — by the 

 assimilation of colour or form to environment — by adopting colours in 

 strong contrast to environment (warning colours) — by protective atti- 

 tudes — by warning attitudes — by warning sounds — by the secretion 

 of distasteful juices or odorous substances^-by resemblance to un- 

 pleasant substances such as the droppings of birds — by resemblance to 

 well -protected insects other than Coleoptera such as ants, bees and 

 wasps — by imitating other genera and species of the same order which 

 are plainly distasteful. In the course of the Address it was pointed 

 out how easily it can be proved that beetles form a large part of the 

 food of birds, as their hard elytra or wing-cases remain for some time 

 entire in their stomachs ; in this way it can be proved which species 

 are most liked, and which are disliked or rejected ; it is an interesting 

 fact that many of the rapacious birds devour large numbers of beetles, 

 and that a systematic examination of their stomachs proves that the 

 damage done to game is much less than is usually believed, for many 

 of the most persecuted species are mainly, or to a very great extent, 

 insectivorous ; it would be well, therefore, on all grounds, that the 

 indiscriminate slaughter of our few remaining birds of prey should be 

 rigorously discountenanced. 



Professor Sven Lampa, the well known President of the Swedish 

 State Entomological Department, in one of his valuable articles on 

 economic entomology, takes occasion to point out {l\)it. Tvlshrift, xxii., 

 p. 180) "that Linne's and Bjerkander's descriptions of the appearance 

 and mode of life of their Noctiia tritid agree entirely with those of 

 HuiJoia hasilinca, Fab.," and on the strength of this he uses the 

 synonymy Hcuhna fr/7/r/, L., Bjerk. = />((.s/7/;/rt/. Fab. et Auct. It is 

 highly probable that Professor Lampa may be right with regard to 

 Bjerkander, but as we cannot reconcile Lmne's description of tritici in 

 the Si/iitciiia Xattirac with any known form of Ajiaiiica hasilinca, and as 

 the extant Linnean type is a normal Atimtis tritici, we think it would 

 be very rash to accept the correction (?) without much stronger evidence 

 than has yet been offered. 



The Annual Meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological 

 Society was held at the Royal Institution, Liverpool, on January 13th. 

 The following Officers were then elected to serve during 1902 : — Presi- 

 dent, Mr. S. L. Capper, F.L.S., F.E.S. ; Vice-Presidents, Rev. R. 

 Freeman, M.A., and Dr. H. Dobie ; Secretaries, Messrs. Frederick 

 Birch, and E. .1. B. Sopp, F.R.M.S., F.E.S. ; Treasurer, Dr. .J. 

 Cotton, F.E.S. ; Librarian, Mr. F. C. Thompson; Council, Messrs. 

 R. Wilding, F. N. Pierce, F.E.S., A. Tippins, H. Tonkin, and W. A. 

 Tyerman. In the absence of the President the retiring Vice-President 

 Mr. R. Wilding, delivered a most interesting address, reviewing in an 

 exhaustive manner the general entomological work and literature of 

 the first year of the century, with special reference to several matters 

 of local importance. 



We learn that Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse has " seven," not " two, "years 

 to serve at the Natural History Museum before reaching the retiring age. 



