142 THE entomologist's record. 



€§rURRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 



The standard work, Tlie (Joleoptera of the British Islands, by W. W. 

 Fowler, issued between the years 1887 and 1891, for some years past 

 had wanted bringing up-to-date, owing to the large amount of details 

 as to the life-histories and distribution of many species that had subse- 

 quently accumulated, and on account of the very numerous additions 

 to the coleopterous fauna of this country which assiduous collectors 

 have announced. We are pleased to note that a supplementary 

 volume (Vol. VI.) is shortly to be published comprising the addenda 

 which has been recorded during the quarter of a century which has 

 elapsed since the first volume appeared. There will be 20 additional 

 coloured plates, and a comprehensive paper on the British Myrmeco- 

 philous Coleoptera by Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe, F.Z.8., F.E.S. We 

 understand that Mr. Donisthorpe has also collaborated to some extent 

 with the author. Rev. W. W. Fowler, M.A., D.iSc, F.L.S., in the 

 main portion of the work. 



We have received No. II. of the Bulletin of the South- Eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies containing many items of interest concerning 

 the Societies within its folds and also details of the forthcoming 

 Congress in June, to be held this year at Hampstead, under the auspices 

 of the Hampstead Scientific Society. This will be the Eighteenth 

 Annual Congress, and the President-elect for the year will be Sir 

 Hercules Read, President of the Society of Arts. 



Progress is usually slow; especially is it so in the vexed question of 

 Nomenclature. At last it is announced that, in accordance with the 

 decisions of the International Congress of Entomology at Oxford last 

 August, the Entomological Society of London have elected as Repre- 

 sentatives of the Society on the National Committee on Nomenclature, 

 Messrs. J. H. Durrant, L. B. Prout, and C. 0. Waterhouse. Probably 

 no better selection could have been made ; from personal knowledge of 

 them one can say that they are not faddists, they will deal with all 

 questions impartially, they will lean to the expedient rather than to 

 the absolute, their knowledge is unequalled and, what is more, for 

 many years their opinions have been widely sought and accepted. 



The Entomological Society have also appointed a permanent 

 Nomenclature Committee, consisting of five ex-o[ficio and two elected 

 members with power to add to the number when necessary. The five 

 former are the three representatives of the Society on the National 

 Committee, the British Representative on the International Com- 

 mittee, and the Secretary of the Society ; the two latter, the 

 elected members, are Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker and Dr. Karl Jordan. 

 Thus as at present constituted the Committee of the Society consists 

 of Messrs. G. T. Bethune-Baker, J. H. Durrant, C. J. Gahan, Dr. K. 

 Jordan, Messrs. L. B. Prout, C. 0. Waterhouse, and the Rev. G. 

 Wheeler. It is to be hoped that decisions arrived at by this Committee 

 will at once be accepted by all those responsible for our entomological 

 literature, whether maga;cines, or transactions of Societies, or con- 

 tributed articles, even though the individual writers may personally 

 di&agree, for only by this rigid acceptance can any real stability be 

 assured in our scientific names. 



In the March number of the Ent. Mo. Ma;/., Mr. D. Sharp 

 announces the capture of the true Bracbjcellus distinctus near Bourne- 



