3?. THE entomologist's RECORD. 



Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson proposes naming a Cokophoron allied to 

 fuscedinella — metalliceUa. Dr. Wood, however, has not yet given an 

 opinion on their distinctness. 



The City of London Entomological Society has appointed a literary 

 Committee, who are drawing up a Fauna list for the district comprised 

 in a ten miles radius from Charing Cross. The Lepidoptera and 

 Coleoptera will first be dealt with ; but lists of other orders are solicited. 

 The work is already in hand, and Dr. Buckell, 32, Canonbury Square, 

 N., is anxious to receive lists or communications relating thereto, from 

 all entomologists (members of the Society or otherwise) interested in 

 the Fauna of the London district. 



Mr. R. H. Meade reduces Exorista purens, Rud., and E. promtnens, 

 Mgn., to varietal rank, considering both varieties of E. vulgaris 

 {E.M.M., p. 20). 



The Annual Dinner of the South London Society took place on 

 February gth. It was a very successful gathering. 



A series of photographs, with a short account of our leading ento- 

 mologists, is appearing in the British Naturalist. Those of Lord 

 Walsingham and Mr. H. T. Stainton have been already published. 



Mr. Theobald, B.A., F.E.S., writing of Stylopized Bees, considers : — 

 (i) The ? Sty lops gains its nourishment from its host by osmosis, and 

 this causes the alimentary canal, in part, to become abnormal. (2) The 

 abnormal canal is forced upon the sexual organs, and renders them, in 

 whole or part, abortive. (3) That the ova and spermatozoa are not 

 generally present in infected imagos. {E.M.M., p. 42). 



Dr. Sharp {E.M.M.), says that the. specimen oi yEcanthus pellucens, 

 taken by Mr. Haworth, by which Mr. Shaw gave the species a place in 

 the British Orthoptera, was stated by Westwood, long ago, to have 

 been misnamed, and that the species is, therefore, not a British insect. 



^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



The Pterophorina.i — ^\-^q. Pterophorina, or " plumes " are now 

 generally considered to be an aberrant group of the Pvralid^, but so 

 distinct are they in appearance and structure, that they will probably be 

 always considered as a separate family. Their fragile appearance makes 

 them look difficult to manipulate, and hence many collectors will not 

 study them. This appearance is deceptive, and no group is easier to 

 pin and set than the " plumes." They should always be killed with 

 ammonia, because of the importance of the legs being set, and ammonia 

 leaves ihem very flaccid after death. The specimens are apt to verdigris, 

 and so black pins should always be used. Most of the species are 

 abundant where they occur, ^though very local ; a itw are very rare, but 

 any active collector may get a large number of species his first season, 

 especially in the South of England. Under the Doubleday arrange- 

 ment the family was divided into three genera — Agdistis, Pterophoriis, 

 and Alucita, the first and last genera containing only one British species 

 each. Herr Wallengren first sub-divided the unwieldy genus Pterophorus 

 naturally, and his sub-divisions are generally accepted. Quite recently, 



' Abstractor a paper read at the City of London Entomological Society, January 

 2ist, 1S92. 



