OURKENT NOTES. Ill 



®^URRE NT NOTES. 



Several records have appeared during the last few months in our 

 *' Notes on Collecting " of captured $ s of various species of lepidoptera 

 having given their captors batches of eggs. In many cases these have 

 been of species of which no useful description exists. It is high time 

 that lepidopterists who have been collecting for years should be able 

 to take the measurement of an egg, describe its mode of attachment, 

 shape, surface sculpture, the nature of the micropyle, its colour, and 

 the colour-changes that it undergoes. We are led to make this state- 

 ment because lepidopterists of long standing, and often with consider- 

 able leisure, frequently tell us, in answer to our requests for descriptions 

 of ova they have, that they cannot describe an egg, but will send us the 

 material for description. We have no doubt that every lepidopterist 

 who is a naturalist can describe an egg if he tries, and that " cannot " 

 in most cases should read " will not." There is any amount of work 

 to be done in this direction, and although Dr. Chapman, Dr. Eiding, 

 Mr. Bacot, and Mr. Dollman are always ready to describe such as may 

 be sent to them, we want more workers. Are there none of those 

 members of the South London Entomological Society who photograph 

 eggs so well, who can also describe them, or who will attempt the 

 task ? We shall be glad to advertise in our pages for material for 

 any lepidopterist who will publish his results. 



The eleventh Annual Exhibition of the North London Natural 

 History Society was held on Saturday, February 21st, at Hackney 

 Downs. The attendance of members and friends was larger than last 

 year, the room being, at times, almost inconveniently crowded. The 

 exhibits were, perhaps, not so numerous as on some previous occasions, 

 but were evidently carefully selected, and, in many cases, of more than 

 usual interest. Among the lepidoptera, Mr. Pickett's aberrations of 

 Pohjommatus corrjdon and long variable bred series of Anyerona 

 prunaria, and Mr. Hamling's long bred series of melanic forms of 

 Gonodontis bidentata, were very fine. Mr. H. T. Payne exhibited the 

 only local example of Helotropha leucostigma at present recorded — taken 

 by himself in Clapton. Lectures, with lime-light illustrations, were 

 delivered during the evening by Mr. Otto Puck on "Bees and Bee- 

 keeping," and by Mr. C. G. Pike on " Pictures from Birdland," and, 

 judging from the crowded condition of the lecture room, were 

 thoroughly appreciated. An excellent programme of music, arranged 

 by Miss Nicholson, formed a pleasant feature in the evening's enter- 

 tainment. 



Mr. Claude Morley, F.E.S., is about to publish, by subscription, a 

 work entitled The Ichneumons of Britain. The work is to be complete 

 in one volume, and the pace 21s. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on 

 March Ith, 1903, Mr. A. J. Chitty exhibited specimens of Atomaria 

 rhenana, Kr., taken by him out of some food rubbish found near 

 Lancing, probably the same locality where the beetle was discovered 

 formerly by Dr. Sharp. He also exhibited a Ptinus, apparently new to 

 Britain, and probably introduced, found in a granary in Holborn in 1893. 



At the same meeting, Mr. W. J. Kaye exhibited species of lepidoptera 

 from British Guiana, forming a Miillerian association in which all but 

 one were day-flying moths, the exception being an Erycinid butterfly, 

 Esthemopsis secina. The moths, belonging to three families, included 

 Syntomidae : Agyrta micilia, and Eicagra coeUstina. Hypsidae : lostola 



