RETROSPECTIONS AND FORECASTS. 127 



species mentioned by the old authors as British but which are now 

 generally not accepted as such, were of undoubted foreign origin. 



The second point that strikes one is the existence of professional 

 dealers and buyers in these early days, but it would appear that such 

 were rather curio dealers in general than dealers in lepidoptera in par- 

 ticular. 



The third matter of interest is the difference existing even in these 

 early times between the values of British and foreign insects. Rare 

 indeed is it to find a " Lot " of the former valued at less than lOs., or a 

 '• Lot " of the latter at more. The fancy value for Britishers therefore 

 dates back a long way, and it is evident that the gentlemen who now 

 supply the gullible British public had predecessors in existence at least 

 110 years ago. 



A fourth point on which the Catalogue throws an interesting light 

 is the nomenclature in vogue at the time ; this will be an instructive 

 study to Anti-Staudingerists. Of the macro names given above, all but 

 three are Linneean ; those three, gonostigma, lineata, and nlmata, are 

 Fabrician. The following, which were again revived by Staudinger 

 after an interval of disuse, were in use in this country in 1786 : fulvago 

 (= cerago) falcataria, lacertinaria, prunata (^^ rihesiaria), pavonia. On 

 the other hand aesculi held the ground, and was not then known as 

 pyrina. 



By albert J. HODGES. 



(Continued from page 70). 



As every advantage has its attendant drawbacks, so doubtless the 

 distant Northern resident collectors will allow their practical monopoly 

 of the many rare species and fine local forms to be a fitting compensa- 

 tion for the frequent absence of those opportunities of congenial society 

 which would so shorten the weary return from many a successful 

 expedition. 



How different is the case with the equally rich but more accessible 

 famous hunting grounds in the South and the Midlands ; " sugaring " in 

 the New Forest, when the " crimsons " are out, is almost as good an 

 introduction to entomological circles as membership with one of the 

 societies ; certain of the " enclosures " with names too well known to 

 need mention, are almost over- run during July with collectors, who 

 meet one another season after season, with unvarying regularity, in 

 pursuit of the graceful sibylla and the lordly iris, whilst the dank and 

 gloomy Fen, foimerly only mentioned with bated breath as a mystery 

 not to be approached by the dilettante and frivolous collector of Macros 

 only, is now studded in the mist and darkness with innumerable 

 " lights, like gipsy camp-fires," each with the concomitant weird sheet, 

 whilst the sound of voices, more or less cheerful as the sport waxes 

 and wanes, is borne through the fast-falling darkness, and the most 

 treasured Fenland species are fast becoming " household words " in 

 every cabinet. 



Whilst mourning the apparently inexplicable extinction in recent 

 years of some typically Fen species, as Laelia coenosa, and of more 

 distant years, Noctna suhrosea, yet the eager jiursuit of equally local 

 species is being carried on with the same avidity, and it seems likely 



