NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 305 



hinted that they were not British at all. I immediately wired and 

 wrote to Mr. Head for full particulars, and my surprise and disgust 

 may be judged on receiving a reply that they were from a cross between 

 New Forest and Continental specimens. Mr. Head remarks that the 

 low price he put on them should have been a sufficient guarantee to 

 convince entomologists that they were not true British specimens. Is 

 it possible that Mr. Head does not think it necessary to make any 

 distinction between British and Continental insects when selling, unless 

 specially asked by his correspondents ? This seems to me a strange 

 way of doing business, and most certainly will not be a sufficient 

 guarantee for me in future. — W. Salvage, 12, Montreal Road, Brighton. 

 December 2 fid, 1892. 



By the courtesy of the Editor, I have seen the letters written by 

 Messrs. Head and W. Salvage to the Entojnologisfs Record. The 

 facts are practically as I stated them, and I simply gave in my paper 

 {aitte, p. 222) the information given me by Mr, Salvage. In the second 

 note {arUe, p. 257) are the facts derived from letters afterwards received 

 by me from Mr. Salvage, and from letters written from Mr. Head to Mr. 

 Salvage. The following apology has been sent to me by Mr. Salvage : — 

 "Dear Sir, — I see I am referred to in the current number of the Ento- 

 mologisfs Record as being the one from whom Mr. Clark obtained the 

 ova of L. fnonac/ia, whose origin has been called into question, and 

 felt that an apology is due to Mr. Clark for all the trouble and incon- 

 venience he has been put to about them. When I had the ova from 

 Mr. Head of Scarborough, he certainly did not tell me that they were 

 not of pure British origin, and very naturally I was led to believe they 

 were taken in that district. Mr. Clark, in stating their British authen- 

 ticity, was guided by what I told him, and as I deal in nothing but 

 British insects, I considered them strictly as British, and let Mr. Clark 

 have them as such. Until their authenticity was called in question, I 

 never had a doubt about them. However, it seems that one cannot be 

 too careful now-a-Jays in purchasing rare species and extreme forms. 

 Again expressing my deep regret for the great inconvenience which I 

 have caused Mr. Clark,— I am, yours faithfully, W. Salvage, Nov. 21st, 

 1892." — J. A. Clark, The Broadway, London Fields, Hackney, N.E. 



[We do not propose to allow a recriminatory discussion on this matter, 

 but simply lay before our readers the opinions of the two dealers 

 implicated. To the outsider it appears clear that there must be more 

 broods of this species in existence in Britain which their possessors 

 have fondly hoped were British, and for which they have paid dearly 

 in that belief. It does not appear that British monacha have suddenly 

 grown dark, and it seems probable that the many dark races of monacha 

 at present in existence in Britain are simply from originally imported 

 ova, and that those who have recently devoted time, care and money to 

 breeding black monacha have been duped, and that such specimens 

 should have no place in liritish collections. This black aberration of 

 monacha, known as eremita on the Continent, is not at all uncommon 

 in many localitie-;, and has a commercial value of about 4d. to 6d. for fine 

 specimens. Truly, people who make collections without caring about 

 entomological science have much to answer for, because if there was 

 not such a competition to possess, there would be no incentive to fraud. 

 It is satisfactory to know that an exposure has been made, and the 



