CURRENT NOTES. 181 



tation previous to 1899 further south than the line fixed in that year, 

 whereas no such line of delimitation had ever been laid down, and 

 the fence in question was a mere temporary convenience. Sir 

 Norman's admissions with regard to the probable rapid expansion of 

 the Science Museum, which everyone would hope for and rejoice in if 

 it were placed on a site of its own, show that those who held that this 

 institution would become an octopus whose tentacles would seize more 

 and more of the otherwise allocated land, had in fact the gravest 

 cause for their fears. Considering all this, his query as to the justice 

 and decorum of the representatives of the Biological Sciences must 

 be read wdth infinite relish. It is indeed deplorable that different 

 groups of sciences should thus be put into opposition, but it is not 

 the representatives of the Biological Sciences who are to blame for 

 this. 



It is of course unfortunate that there is no available site at South 

 Kensington for the Science Museum, but it would be possible to 

 minimise the inconvenience by eventually dividing the work of the 

 Imperial College, the biological section continuing in its present 

 habitation, and the physical section being located in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, wherever it may be, of the Science Museum. This, of 

 course, is not ideal, but would eeem a possible solution. 



One thing only could justify the use of the land assigned to the 

 Natural History Museum for any other purpose, viz., the consent of 

 the Trustees ; one thing only could justify that consent, viz., the con- 

 viction that they held more land than the Museum could require for 

 its expansion ; and the only people who could assure them of this are 

 the working authorities of the Museum. The said authorities, backed 

 by all those who constantly or frequently work there, are unanimously 

 of a contrary opinion, the Trustees have therefore naturally and 

 necessarily refused their consent, and the matter should consequently 

 be regarded as settled. The working authorities at the Museum seem 

 to consider themselves precluded by their official position from taking 

 part in the discussion, but those who frequently work there also know 

 only too well the immediate need of expansion, particularly those 

 whose work lies in the entomological section, for which no proper 

 place whatever is available, the present utterly inadequate makeshift 

 having been designed merely as store-rooms. One would like, more- 

 over, to enlarge on the pitiful under-staffing of this department, and 

 the huge accumulations of work waiting to be done, all of which 

 urgently requires more room. — G.W. 



The authorities of the British Museum (Natural History), South 

 Kensington, are in want of living specimens of the larvae of Hepialus 

 liipiilinus for the purpose of figuring and subsequent preservation. 

 We are sure that our subscribers will be only too pleased to help if 

 they have the opportunity. 



To those of our lepidopterists who are interested in galls, we 

 would call attention to the accounts given of two species of the smaller 

 Lepidoptera, both of them new to science, in the ( 'anadian K)iti>i)iolui/ist 

 for January, by Prof. August Busck, of Washington, U.S.A. He 

 states that the larvae of one species Gnorimoschema salinaris feed in the 

 stems of a salt-marsh plant Sulidaiju senijiercirens, Ccinsmg gall growths, 

 and those of the other species Cz. subterranea, feed in the roots of the 

 Aster iiiultifiovKs, causing galls just at the surface of the ground. At the 



