30 THE entomologist's record. 



part of the paper of great interest to all coleopterists, and should be 

 carefully studied. 1 notice one or two slips — surely for Bidessas 

 vnistnatus, Schr., mentioned as belonging to the Western group, is 

 meant Bidcfisuswinutifisiiiius, Germ. ; inrihei- BJiopoloni esites ta rd i/i , Curt., 

 has occurred commonly near Scarborough, and is not purely Western. 

 Mr. W. E. Sharp's list brings the Lancashire and Cheshire list up to 

 1586 species, or about 45 per cent, of the British list. May I express 

 the hope that this list will be used as a model by all local societies 

 who may in the future undertake the work of compiling a local list in 

 any order of insects ? 



Commander Walker has issued a supplement to his Oxford List, 

 bringing it up to the end of 1907, adding 183 species, and making the 

 total now 1580, a fine record for such a small area, and testifying to 

 the zeal of the local workers. 



In the Zooloiiut (February, 1908) appeared a translation by Mr. 

 Donisthorpe of a short paper by Father Wasmann, on the evolution of 

 the genus Dinarda, of much interest to those of us who are trying to 

 form theories as to the evolution of new species and genera. 



In the Annals of Scottish Natural History for January, 1908, 

 appeared two short papers by Dr. Joy and the writer on the 

 coleopterous fauna of the lonely island of St. Kilda. 



The last paper I have to notice appeared in the Journal of the 

 Linnean Society, vol. xxx., no. 197, p. 157 ; it was entitled " Life- 

 Histories and Larval Habits of the Tiger Beetle," and is illustrated 

 with plates; it is the work of Mr. C. E. Shelford, and describes that 

 gentleman's observations in the field and in the virarium, of the 

 life-histoi'ies of twelve species or races of tiger beetles occurring in the 

 neighbourhood of Chicago ; it is a paper I would strongly advise all 

 our younger coleopterists to read carefully. 



In bringing my " Eetrospect " to a conclusion, lam glad to be able 

 to express the opinion that the past year has been a fruitful one, and 

 has given proof that we are slowly realising the importance of the study 

 of life-histories, and the small value of mere collections. 



Notes from a lepidopterist's diary for 1908. 



By JOSEPH OVENDEN. 



Early in January, 1908, I paid a visit to the haunts of Hellinsia car- 

 phodactt/la, expecting to find the larvte snug in their hybernacula, but, 

 although a few daj's before the ground had been covered with snow, I 

 found the larv« sunning on the foodplants just at the entrance of 

 their burrows, while all around were traces of recent feeding and frass; 

 the larvffi were at this time about an eighth of an inch in length. I 

 split several of the mined plants up, but m no case did I find any 

 traces of hybernating larvse, so concluded that they come up from the 

 mine in the central stem to sun themselves whenever the weather is 

 fine enough all the winter. During January and February, Ph it/alia 

 pedaria (jiilosaria), L'heiuiatohia briiwata, Hi/hernia rupicapraria and H. 

 j)ro(iem)uaria occasionally decorated the street lamps on the outskirts of 

 the town, whilst, after March, Anisopteryx aescularia were to be seen 

 in their company. Ai/lais urticae was first noted ou March 2nd. 

 During March and April I turned my attention to the stems of the 



