ClIRKKNT NOTES. 191 



could be found, thus yiviiig him aii opportunity of obtaining some 

 good specimens. In these excursions he did not confine himself to 

 any particular order, as he was a good all-round entomologist ; he 

 knew what to reject so as not to burden himself with useless objects. 

 His Corsican collection of insects must be very valuable to persons 

 studying the European fauna. His monographs of the British 

 Braconidac, published l)y the Knt. Hoc. of London, and the European, 

 by Andre, in the " Species des Hymenopteres d'Europe," will be much 

 valued by future students. How far he has proceeded with the European 

 Oxijura I do not know. This most difticult group of small insects he 

 has been working at for the past four years, and no doubt a great 

 number of figures have been drawn. He once remarked to me that 

 he never knew of a man Avho had undertaken a big work live to see it 

 finished, and this is certainly his case. His drawings of insects are very 

 carefully done, he was certainly a pastmaster with his pencil and 

 brush. I have four water-colour drawings before me now of birds 

 drawn for a bazaar in aid of church funds. These are a jay, wood- 

 cock, kingfisher, and magpie, all in natural positions, the largest not 

 three inches in length. Although drawn so small, they are simply 

 perfect in form and colour. In the woodcock the variegated feathers 

 of the wing are a study in themselves ; the kingfisher, on the brink of 

 a running stream, with a small fish in its mouth, is very characteristic 

 of the bird ; and so are the others in their attitude. An engraving 

 or etching that attracted his attention, if he took a fancy to it, 

 he could reproduce with such accuracy that it would be almost 

 impossible to say which was the original. As a scholar he could 

 read most of the European languages, and was, in his younger 

 days, engaged at the British Museum, cataloguing the Sanskrit 

 and other works. This sedentary life was against his restless 

 nature. Leaving this appointment, he took Holy Orders and 

 became one of the masters of Cheltenham College, and afterwards one 

 of the principals of Milford College. Subsequently he held various 

 livings in England. He was desirous of visiting the West Indies, 

 and obtained an appointment as l)ishop's chaplain at Antigua. There 

 he had the misfortune to lose his wife from fever, and himself 

 narrowly escaped death from the same cause. Shortly after his 

 recovery he returned to England. In 1889, he became rector of 

 Botus Fleming, Cornwall, retirmg from that in 1897. He finally 

 settled in Corsica, taking lodgings shortly after his arrival in the 

 island at Tavera, afterwards removing to Ucciani, villages in the 

 mountains, finally settling near x\jaccio, there taking a house, with 

 garden and vineyard attached — an ideal home for such a lover of 

 nature as he was. A few days before last Christmas he was taken ill 

 with influenza of a rather mild type ; it then developed into bronchitis, 

 followed by asthma, from which he did not recover. He still worked 

 on arranging his MS. up to a very short time before he was summoned 

 to join the great majority — to the regret of his many friends — in the 

 spring of this year. — G. C. Bignell, Saltash. June ith, 1903. 



m U RRE N T NO^T E S . 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London on 

 May 6th, 1903, Mr. Willoughby Gardner exhibited nest cells of 

 Osiiiid .rant/iiniu'lmia from Conway, North Wales. He said the 

 species, one of our rarer mason-bees, places its beautifully constructed 



