318 THE entomologist's record. 



the dry bed of a stream at Djendere. Hesperia sidae, a very fine 

 skipper, appeared to be confined to that locality, where it haunted the 

 slopes above the stream in May and June, occasionally fiying wildly round 

 in circ'es, and always going away like a flash when disturbed. I only 

 took one female out of some 24 specimens. The specimens varied 

 little niter se, save in the colour of the bands on the underside of the 

 posterior wings, which varied from pale ochre to rich orange. Can 

 Mr. Harold Powell kindly tell me what its foodplant is ? Adopaea 

 flava was large and abundant ; Tltyinelicus actaeon was more local, but 

 common where it occurred, and Aiiffiades aylvanus was common in 

 woods and bushy places, the females being larger than is the case at 

 home. Eri/nnis alceae occurred nearly everywhere, but as a rule in 

 small numbers. K. altheae was more local, but more frequent where 

 it did occur. Powellia orbifer was unquestionably the commonest 

 " skipper," especially in its first brood, though there seemed to be a 

 great disproportion in the numbers of the sexes, the females, though I 

 hunted for them assiduously, occurring in the proportion of 1 to 5. 

 I may have missed other species of this and other groups, owing to 

 my having failed to visit the excellent Gyok-su localities before July, 

 but I shall endeavour to work them in May and June next year. I 

 failed to find two species which I rather expected to take, viz., 

 E. laraterae and Mtiscltampia proto. Vrbicola comma does not appear to 

 occur here, but I did not expect it at so low a level so far south. In 

 Syria (Lebanon) you must not look for U. comma at a lower altitude 

 than 4,000 feet. 



{To he continued.) 



Some more Considerations about Descriptions and Figures. 



By OSCAR JOHN (0. Ion of St. Petersburg.) 

 Monsieur Charles Oberthilr's proclamation to all lepidopterologists 

 to adopt, at the next Entomological Congress, as a law, the principle 

 that "no description should be valid without a good figure," has 

 induced Dr. T. A. Chapman and Mr. L. B. Prout to offer some 

 considerations," which bear on the point, but which I shall not discuss, 

 that M. Oberthilr's rather radical propositions should be well 

 considered before the Congress assembles. The question raised is 

 most certainly of a very serious kind, and strict rules for new 

 descriptions will, I am sure, be welcomed by every serious student. 

 I may be permitted to suggest a few points, which might be taken 

 into consideration before definitely adopting any rules for descriptions 

 of lepidoptera. 



We must agree with M. Oberthilr, that many descriptions without 

 figures have led, and continue to lead, to misunderstandings, so that 

 often the only means of identifying such doubtful species is the 

 comparison with the types, and when these are lost, every attempt to 

 unravel such questions has to be dismissed as hopeless. Such 

 descriptions being in fact nomina nuda might well be left aside without 

 any loss to lepidopterology, but it is absolutely necessary that such 

 nomina nnda should not be created in future. To avoid this the 

 following considerations, for which I do not claim originality, might 

 be of importance. 



' * The Ent. Record, pp. 239 and 263. 



