100 THE entomologist's becord. 



formed out of three previously existing and well-known collections. 

 These are (1) the collection left to the museum many years ago by the 

 late T. J. Bold ; (2) the fine collection made by Mr. John Gardner, of 

 Hartlepool; and (8) Mr. Bagnall's own collection. It will be some time 

 before the combined collection is completely installed, but from what 

 has been done already, it is evident that when finished, it will be one 

 of the finest reference collections of its kind in the country. One 

 other section of the exhibits is perhaps worth remarking upon. The 

 Historical Exhibit included objects representing W. C. Hewitson, and 

 among them were some representative examples of the books from his 

 library. In addition to good examples of his own works, his library 

 includes many scarce and valuable monographs on the results of 

 naturalist travel, and some of these were shown. But the most 

 remarkable thing exhibited in the section devoted to Hewitson, was a 

 MS. book done throughout by his own hand, which contains exquisite 

 coloured figures of most of the butterflies in his collection. 



Some forty pages of the .January number of the Natnralut ave taken 

 up with the Report of the Year's Work of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union, which forms a record of the very admirable and useful 

 co-operation of its members in the observation and study of nature 

 under a well-arranged scheme of secUon organisation. In that part 

 of the report dealing with the entomological section, the unfavourable 

 climatic conditions of the year of course are noted, and we read that 

 there has been an unusual abundance of Boarnria repandata larvae, 

 and the resultant imagines have been very dark, Thera variata has 

 shown a fine black race, Apawea basilinea has produced a strikingly 

 melanic example, of Phigalia pedaria J s there have been exceptional 

 numbers, and very dark representatives of B. f/ewmaria have been 

 obtained. The soul of this section is, of course, the veteran in 

 Entomology, Mr. G. T. Porritt, who not only devotes his attention to 

 Lepidoptera, but has for years past taken much interest in Nenroptera 

 and Trichoptera, in which orders some of his records this year are very 

 interesting. He reports Tinodes dives as abundant at Malham, Steno- 

 phylax alpestris and Hemerobius quadrifasciatus as occurring near 

 Sheffield, and a fine melanic example of (rlyphotoelius pclliicidits near 

 Wakefield. Last year, for the first time, there was a section for the 

 record and study of the Arachnida, and several members have worked 

 with sufficient assiduity to find five species new to Yorkshire, in 

 addition to the 209 species known up to the end of 1909. Several 

 local lists of spiders are included in the Report. 



We were much mterested in the account given in the December 

 number of the Entomological News by Dr. John B. Smith of Washington, 

 concerning his investigations as to the efficacy of the Azolla, a water 

 plant, to allay the troubles caused by mosquitos by preventing their 

 breeding. Under favourable conditions it was conclusively proved 

 that the Azolla would form a perfect surface covering on water areas, 

 that would absolutely prevent the mosquito from breeding, while at 

 the same time fish and other aquatic animals would nob be adversely 

 affected. This fact, however, is somewhat limited in its application, as 

 the plant will only flourish in stagnant water in peat or turf areas. 

 Where the bottom is sandy, or in any way influenced by the proximity 

 of the sea, and where ground ice is likely to form, the plant is unable 

 to maintain itself. The presence of this plant renders some 



