CURRENT NOTES. 31 



apart from the mechanical process of the determination of species, 

 which di/etia?iti entomologists appear to delight in. When these 

 wealthy entomologists spare a few shillings in support of general ento- 

 mological work, as apart from their own particular hobby, an impetus 

 will be given to entomology, and the suggested retrograde movement 

 will vanish. It would be interesting, for example, to know what steps, 

 direct or indirect, the President of the London Ent. Soc, one of his 

 Vice-Presidents, and at least two or three other members of his Council, 

 take to further the study of British entomology. 



Dr. Carlier has published a most interesting " List of the Macro- 

 lepidoptera of Balerno, Midlothian " (with notes), in the January 

 number of The A?inals of Scottish Natural History, with which is 

 now incorporated The Scottish Naturalist. 



To those of our readers who are general naturalists, the lecture in 

 "Curiosities of Bird Life," by R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., F.L.S. etc.. 

 at Steinway Hall, 15, Lower Seymour Street, Portman Square, on 

 February 24th, at 8.30 p.m., should prove interesting. 



Mr. South, in the British Naturalist, comes down heavily on Dr. 

 Mason's statement, which I used as a quotation in the Record, vol. ii., 

 p. 267, and says : — "The words would never have been uttered by any- 

 one who was acquainted with the facts of the case." Mr. Souih's re- 

 marks prove that he is the only interested person who knows nothing 

 of the subject on which he is writing, as he suggests (i) that the name 

 of couflua is a M.S. name, which it is not; (2) that Boisduval knew 

 nothing of Icelandic specimens, which he did, as he and Guenee gave 

 " Iceland" as one of the two known localites in the Noctuelles in 1852 \ 

 (3) that Dr. Staudinger first found and wrote about couflua in Iceland 

 in 1857, which the publication of the Iceland locality by Boisduval 

 and Guenee, in 1852, shows is equally erroneous. Mr. South's remarks 

 would be interesting if they were not so very inaccuiate. 



Dr. Chapman contributes a most interesting paper on the " Ovipo- 

 sition of Adela viridella," in the E.M.M. He appears to have deter- 

 mined satisfactorily that the egg is laid in the midrib of an oakleaf 

 (underneath), the midrib being pierced by the ovipositor, the time 

 occupied being from 20 to 25 seconds. He supposes that as soon as 

 hatched the larva falls to the ground, and that the larval life is passed there. 



Herr Hoffman says that " Ainphidasys betularia ab. doubledayaria is 

 spreading all over the Continent. During the last five or six years it has 

 been recorded from near Hanover (i^^), from Dordrecht and Grave 

 (Netherlands) ; from Gotha, Thuringia ; from Melle, near Osnabriick ; 

 from Aachen, from Rheydt, near Dusseldorf; from Eutin, Holstein." 

 {E.M.M., p. 48). 



A most important paper on Coleoptera, entitled "The Coccinellidje," 

 will be read by Mr. G. A. Lewcock, at the meeting of the City of 

 London Society on March 3rd. 



Mr. Coste, who originated in his own mind an idea that Mr. Cockerell 

 believed the genetic relationship of colours in insects was yellow, white 

 and red, after writing several pages to disprove what only existed in his 

 own mind, has written another page to say that he is " glad to learn 

 Mr. Cockerell now agrees with him," etc., when Mr. Cockerell has 

 denied most emphatically that he had ever supposed the genetic 

 relation to be in the direction Mr. Coste criticises. 



