220 THE entomologist's record. 



Poulton, F.R S., Fellow of Jesus College, iu the scarlet robes of a 

 doctoi of science, Dr. F. A. Dixey, Bursar of Wadham College, in the 

 red robes of a doctor of medicine ; and among the M.A's. Mr. H. 

 Rowland-Brown of University College. Mr. G. C. Champion, F.Z.S., 

 had also come down from London to represent, with his colleagues, 

 the Entomological Society, which has found so many valuable 

 and energetic Fellows among the graduate and undergraduate members 

 of the University of Oxford. 



The British Association, about a thousand strong, sails for the 

 Cape this day (July 20th). Among the Associates who are to enjoy 

 the hospitality of the South African Colonies, we notice the names of 

 Professor Poulton, F.R.S., F.E.S., who will deliver an address in 

 Cape Town, and Dr. Longstaff, M.D., F.E.S., who is an active 

 observer and collector all over the world. 



Mr. Roger Verity observes, in a circular that we have just received, 

 that the increasing difficulty of procuring the rare and costly works 

 and the innumerable publications in which the literature relating to 

 the Palaearctic butterflies has been dealt with, has led him to contem- 

 plate publishing another work on the species which shall unite all the 

 information obtainable on the species. If he is really about to give 

 us all the life-history details relating to the Palaearctic butterflies that 

 lie buried on the Stett. Ent. Zeitung, the Berl. Ent. Zeitschrift, the Wien. 

 zool.-but. Geaelhchaft, the French Annales, the Belgian Annales, &c., 

 to say nothing of the Dutch, Russian, Italian, Scandinavian, and other 

 German magazines, scientific lepidopterists will be greatly indebted to 

 him. Riihl, in his Pal. Oroas-ScIunetterHnye, &c., has already done 

 much to help in this direction, and his exceedingly accurate and care- 

 ful diagnoses of the imagines and their local races, leave little to be 

 desired in this direction, and should have eliminated largely what 

 Mr. Verity considers the defective knowledge that has led to so many 

 errors in the creation of varieties and aberrations with which, among 

 the butterflies at any rate, it has not yet been our misfortune to meet. 

 What we want is another book dealing with the life-histories of the 

 species, especially their eggs and pupae. We have enough and to spare 

 of picture-books with superficial letterpress relating to the imagines 

 (as a rule, far behind what Borkhausen and Ochsenheimer wrote more 

 than a century ago), which retard entomological science, and serve no 

 biological or scientific purpose whatever. We shall await Mr. Verity's 

 proposed work with interest, and shall be pleased to notice it again 

 when we see its scope. If Mr. Verity, too, has a first-hand field 

 acquaintance with the eastern Palaearctic species, it will also be of 

 great advantage, as it is here that our British knowledge fails most 

 completely. Of the western, central, and south European butterflies 

 we have a very fair grip. 



The Duke of Bedford (Chairman), Mr. F. Crisp (Treasurer), and 

 Mr. B. D. Jackson (Secretary), in the name of a strong committee, 

 appeal to all naturalists for subscriptions to the " Howes' Memorial 

 Fund." Few scientific men have endeared themselves more to their 

 fellow-workers than the late Professor of Zoology at the Royal College 

 of Science, and already a hearty response has been made. Particulars 

 may be obtained from Mr. F. Crisp, 17, Throgmorton Avenue, 

 London, E.G. 



