NOVA ET VETERA. 37 



influences towards the north. In the same direction there are small 

 areas of sand and of very stift" cold clay. Adartt/lits hennetti, common 

 ■on the river banks at dusk; L'appcria /wterodacti/la {tciicrii), a few have 

 occurred in the woods beyond Cuxton ; O.njiitilm parridacti/la, occurs 

 commonly on the Downs from Cuxton to Snodland ; Plati/ptilia ijono- 

 dacti/la, swarms wherever the coltsfoot abounds ; (Tillnieria ochmtlactijla, 

 local where yarrow is abundant, and there in some numbers ; (t. 

 pallidacti/la, local, among Tansy on the marshes towards Maidstone ; 

 Eucnciaidophorna rhododacti/la, occasionally met with at Chattenden ; 

 uiiiibli/ptilia cosiiiodactifla, occasionally met with along hedgerows ; 

 Marasiiiarcha Innaedactyla {pJiaeodact>jla), common in the Hailing 

 ■district among Ononis, larvie often in numbers ; Stenoptilia pterodactijla 

 (fascodactijla), everywhere; Adkinia bipinictidactijla, common in the 

 district, found most freely in the larval state in the rootstocks of the 

 Devil's-bit Scabious {Scabiosa s^uccisa) : Oidaeniatophorns lit/todactijla, 

 •occurs on the marshes and on the highest hills of the neighbourhood ; 

 Eiiiiiidina monndacti/la, common in the autumn ; Porrittia ijalacto- 

 dactijla, all over the district, but local where it occurs; Leinptilus 

 carpliDdactijla, to be found in the larval stage all over the district 

 where the foodplant occurs, but seldom seen on flight except for a few 

 minutes at dusk, I have bred hundreds in confinement on living 

 plants, but have not seen a dozen on flight ; Oreudeitia sejitodactijla 

 {lieni[/ianus), very local ; Adaina iiiicrodacti/la, occurs at Snodland, but 

 difficult to see on flight ; Alucita pentad avtyla, everywhere; Wlieeleria 

 nireidactijla {baliodacti/la), on the Downs, but scarce ; Merrijifldia 

 tridacti/la {tetrad acti/la), fairly common on the Downs. 



Nova et Vetera. 



By (Lt.-Col.) N. MANDERS, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



When one is disposed to despair of keeping abreast with the ever- 

 increasing output of entomological literature, and apt to sigh for a 

 return of the "Good old days," when science was in its infancy and 

 books on insects few and far between, it acts as a corrective to such faint 

 heartedness to turn to some of these ancient volumes, and note the 

 difficulties with which the entomologists of an earlier date had to 

 contend ; even such apparently simple matters as killing and setting 

 were such stumbling blocks as to deter many from attempting the task of 

 making a collection. 



In an old library, I recently came across The Kntntnidrujists useful 

 Compendiiitii, or an introduction to the Iniowledi/e of British Insects, by 

 George Samouelle, Associate of the Linnean Society of London, a book 

 probably well known to the more erudite, but possibly unknown to many 

 readers of the Record. The dedication to Dr. W. E. Leach, F.R.S., etc., 

 is dated March, 1819. The work contains in addition, detailed in- 

 structions as to the collecting, setting and preservation of the various 

 insects. I will, however, confine myself to the Lepidoptera ; and first 

 as to giving one's captures the happy dispatch. This in the younger 

 days of middle-aged entomologists now living was still an unsatisfactory 

 undertaking. I can remember on one summer evening long ago, 

 endeavouring to give Theretra porcellus its quietus with a toothpick 

 dipped in oxalic acid, and I distinctly remember my fingers receiving 

 as much acid as the moiih, and its hopeless condition as a cabinet 



