CURRENT NOTES; 249 



rearrangement of the collections has been going on. In the Depart- 

 ment of Biology, very large and important collections of insects have 

 been transferred from the Department of Agriculture, including some 

 800,000 specimens, assembled in connection with the investigation on 

 forest insects, and many collections of insects of all orders have been 

 donated or obtained by exchange from more remote portions of the 

 globe. Another branch of the Museum's work is to publish original 

 matter on the basis of its collections, and among other works issued 

 we note an important Monuijiapli on the Musqaitues, Culicidae, by Dr. 

 Howard, Dr. Harrison Dyer, and Mr. Frederick Knab ; a Catalog ue of 

 Nearctic Spiders, by Mr. Nathan Banks, and Directions for Collecting/ 

 and Preserving Insects, by the same writer. Publishing original matter 

 is one thing, but the distribution of the publications is quite another. 

 The Museum authorities, however, carry out this important duty in no 

 niggardly fashion, for we are imformed that no less than 87,000 books 

 and pamphlets were distributed to institutions and specialists through- 

 out the world free of charge. The report is a worthy record of 

 excellent, long-continued progress. 



With much regret we have to announce that Mr. Albert Harrison, 

 of " Delamere," South Woodford, passed away suddenly on the 

 morning of Monday, August 28th. We were with him at the meeting 

 of the South London Entomological Society on the previous Thursday 

 evening, when he appeared in his usual health. An obituary will be 

 given in our October issue. — H.J.T. 



It is with the greatest pleasure that we are able to report that 

 the Natural History Museum at South Kensington is to retain all the 

 land allotted to it in 1899, and the boundary is not to be altered. 

 — G.W. 



From the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club 

 we have received the Guide to St. Albans, which was compiled by 

 various members of the Society " for use during the 16th Annual 

 Congress of the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, meeting 

 at St. Albans from June 7th to 10th, 1911," and containing "an 

 account of the Topography, Geology, Hydrology, Climate, Flora, 

 Fauna, and Archaeology of the district, with a Guide to the Hertford- 

 shire County Museum." There are several views of the neighbourhood, 

 and also maps of the area described. The book is issued as Part JII. of 

 vol. xiv. of the 'Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History 

 Society, of which the Hon. Lionel Walter Rothschild, Ph.D., F.Z.S., 

 F.L.S., F.E.S., is President, and Messrs. A. E. Gibbs, F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 F.R.H.S., and Charles Oldham, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., are the Honorary 

 Secretaries. No attempt has been made to give complete lists of the 

 Fauna and Flora of the district, as these have already been adequately 

 dealt with in previous volumes of the Transactions. Turning to the 

 section treating of the Insecta, for which Mr. A. E. Gibbs is personally 

 responsible, we find a general description of the character of the 

 district, short accounts of what has been done and what still remains 

 to be done in the investigation of the different orders, and references 

 to present workers, and to publications where more detailed and 

 definite information is obtainable. In the restricted radius of five 

 miles, St. Albans has recorded no less than 931 species of Lepidoptera 

 out of 1,182 recorded for the whole country. For many years past 



