48 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



lio-ht as any that I have seen in the South of England, others inter- 

 mediate ; Agriopis aprilina, 6 specimens (from 100 dug pupje) with the 

 space between the base of the wing and the 1st line almost clear. — 

 (Cai'T.) E. W. Brown, Enniskillen. 



Variation in Lithomia solidaginis — I spent two or three days early 

 in Auo-ust in the wild district near Kindnocout, and observed that the 

 specimens of Lithoiiiin solidaginis which occur there closely resemble 

 the Yorksliire form, but are quite distinct from the form that I take on 

 Cannock Chase. — (Rkv.) C. F. Thornewill, Burton-on-Trent. 



Errata. — Page 12, line 41. — For "females" read "males" and for 

 "small" read "large." Page 12, line 43. For " eschari '' read 



es( 



hcrij 



OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



I'he result of a " Qratuitous Offer." 



I was induced recently to try the experiment of making a gratuitous 

 distribution of my s]iare duplicates for two reasons ; firstly, because of 

 my dislike of the bargaining and huckstering inseparable from the ex- 

 change system ; and secondly, from a desire to adopt a method wliich 

 was not uncommon in the days of the old masters in entomology, a race 

 now i)assed away "to that bourne whence no traveller returns" (I 

 allude to such men as Stainton, Newman, Westwood, Doubleday, 

 Shepherd, Janson, and a host of others, for whose successors we look in 

 vain) ; it may be of interest to readers of this journal to learn the 

 result of my experience. 



My main idea was to offer an opportunity of filling blanks in their 

 cabinets, to those younger lepidopterists who lived in districts where 

 chalk insects are not found, by placing them in possession of 

 examples of those insects ; and, in order to prevent disappointments, I 

 requested that written applications should precede the despatch of boxes. 

 I may here parenthetically state, that I had several hundreds of dupli- 

 cates' which I desired to place in the cabinets of others. 



Before I had even seen the notice in the Journal, I received several 

 applications ; one from a gentleman with a particularly Hebrew-sounding 

 patronymic resident near London, who sent me a post-card informing 

 me that a box was coming by the next post in order that he might 

 secure a " fair share of my superfluities." This gentleman evidently 

 considered that I was holding a sort of entomological scramble, and that it 

 was a case of " first come, first served." It appeared from his letter 

 that he required the insects to add to a collection already made by liis 

 son. Why did he not collect them for himself? 



There followed, during the next few days, a perfect storm of letters, 

 post-cards, and even boxes. One gentleman incpiired if he should send 

 a store box (he obligingly gave me the precise dimensions), into 

 which, 1 could with ease, have packed three or four hundred insects ; 

 while several applicants asked for 20 or 30 of a species, to renew, or 

 increase their series. It occurs to me that these gentlemen should have 

 endeavoured to obtain a supply of such dimensions through the medium 

 of exchange ; a gratuitous offer could hardly be intended to apply 

 to them. Some, forgetful of the proverbial gift horse, stipulated that 



