NOTICES AND REVIEWS. 75 



should say that the specimens of L. argiades sold were the same as those 

 referred to by our con-espondent, for the Catalogue of sale states 

 distinctly : — " L. argiades 2, taken in Somerset, in 1874 by Dr. Marsh 

 (see Ent., vols, xviii., 292 and xxv., 21)." The word " pair " may have 

 been used for " two " by our correspondent. We would also ask whether 

 Dr. Marsh is the same as the Rev. T. Marsh (Record, vol. iii., p. 195) 

 who captured the specimens of Si/ricthas alveas reported by Mr. C. G. 

 Barrett some time since as from Norfolk. — Ed.). 



SOTICES AND REVIEWS. 



Qlimpses at yimerican Entomology. 



The Tiventy-fourth Annual Report of the Entomoloyical Society of 

 Ontario, 1893, contains, as usual, much to interest British entomologists. 

 First among the papers is a critique entitled Entomological mistakes of 

 Authors, by the Eev. T. W. Fyles, F.L.S., of South Quebec. Commencing 

 with the school books relating to natural history authorised by Govern- 

 ment, he shows that the lesson relating to the butterfly's metamorphoses 

 is made up of a great many errors, or rather, gross blunders, of which 

 the following appear to form a summary. The butterfly is flgured as a 

 Papilio. The larva and pupa are caricatures of those of Anosia archipp^is, 

 but the larva in the lesson is said to feed on willow, whilst that of 

 archipptis feeds on Asclepias. The reverend gentleman, himself a first- 

 class entomologist, is unable to determine what species is meant, and 

 comjilains that error should thus be disseminated broadcast in the 

 minds of the young. The Natural History Beaders, I may add, in use 

 in our own British schools similarly bristle with glaring inaccuracies, 

 copied from obsolete text-books or made up from imaginary obser- 

 vations. Tlie author of the paper then criticises a large number 

 of allusions in Avell-known works (poetical and prose), to entomological- 

 matters, and even Charles Kingsley and our old friend Isaak Walton 

 are brought to book. Kingsley, it appears, makes the dragon-fly 

 emerge from its nymph under water, whilst in The Complete Angler, an 

 accurate description of a larva of Sphinx lignstri, which ultimatel}- died, 

 is followed by the wonderful guess that " if it had lived, it had doubt- 

 less turned to one of those flies that some call flies of prey, which those 

 that walk by the rivers may, in summer, see fasten on smaller flies, and 

 I think, make them their food." The author gives many other inter- 

 esting and amusing references. He says that Edgar Allen Poe, in one 

 of his highly sensational tales, tells of ' a gold bug.' This bug, he 

 informs us, was a Scarabaeiis ; but we are not to conclude that it was a 

 right down honest ' tumble-bug.' The term. Scarabaeiis, was formerly 

 used for beetles, generally. It may have been a sort of Cotalpha, but 

 it had some peculiar qualities ; ponderosity was one — it was so heavy 

 that it was used as a plumb ; but notwithstanding its gTeat weight, it 

 was very active — it flew on before. Then, too, its pugnacity was re- 

 markable — it bit its captor's hand ; and it was not without suspicion of 

 exercising poisonous qualities, like the centipede and the Tarantula." 

 The reverend gentleman further adds : — " 1 need hardly say that the 

 species has become extinct." Tlie author further points out the way in 

 which men of letters are disposed to under- value " those benevolent, 



