^150 THE ektomologist's record. 



lepidopterous fauna of Great Britain, to become possessed of this valuable 

 work. The only subject for regret is that, so far as appears from the 

 prospectus, there is not to be a supplement bringing the book ujd to 

 date. 



We have received from Mr. Cockerell No. 1 of The Neio Mexico 

 Entomohgist, a three-page pamplilet pre^^ared by himself and issued by 

 the Entomological Department of tlie New Mexico Agi-icultural Experi- 

 ment Station. It deals in a simple practical way with agricultural 

 pests, and must be of much use to farmers and others. The Codlin Moth, 

 of which in all its stages drawings by Prof. Eiley are given, forms the 

 piece de resistance. " In the spring," says the writer, " the moths lay 

 their eggs on the small apples, mostly in the cup at the top formed by 

 the calyx. This is done soon after the flowers fall, while the little 

 fruits are still upright. The caterpillar, or worm, hatches out of the 

 egg, and burrows into the apple : once it is inside the fruit, there is no 

 satisfactory way of killing it. Therefore, it must be poisoned at the 

 very beginning of its life, by means of an arsenical compound. Paris 

 Green is the compound to be used. It must be sprayed on the trees, 

 mixed with water, so that some falls on ever^'^ forming apple. The 

 worm will then be vuiable to burrow without encountering some of the 

 poison." Instructions are then given as to the method of using the 

 insecticide, which is pronounced to be quite devoid of danger if only 

 applied to young fruit. Probably our local authorities who have charge 

 of open si^aces, might find the same compound useful to protect their 

 hawthorns from the ravages of Hi/pomonenta padellus. 



The very latest thing in entomological science is to be found in The 

 Entomologist, p. 172. It may be divided into two portions. (1) Specu- 

 lation ; (2) Discovery. It occurs in a paper or heterogeneous collection 

 of statements by Mr. C. W. Dale, on " The Melanism Controversy." 

 The " Speculative " i^ortion reads as follows : — " The yellow varieties of 

 Zygaena, 1 think, may be cited as another instance of occasional pale 

 varieties occurring on chalk soils. Perhaps some of the pale varieties 

 are owing to their emergence during brilliant moonlight." We dare not 

 give our fancy free play, so will only say that this is the most exquisi- 

 tely funny of all the funny things that Mr. Dale has written, and that 

 is saying a great deal. At first we wondered whether the editor of our 

 contemporary was away for a holiday, but second thoughts enabled us 

 to understand his position. We would even have printed this jeu 

 d'esprit from Mr. Dale's facile pen ourselves. The second part, relating 

 to " Discovery," has a bearing on physical research : — " Leaves frozen 

 on to the ice will also absorb the sun's vays, the ice melting beneath and 

 around them." Eatlier late in the day for this ; we would suggest that 

 even ice itself absorbs the rays of the sun, and that this is the reason 

 why it melts when there are no leaves on it. There is another paragraph 

 which contains a faint suggestion that the study of the process of etio- 

 lation of celery, might throw considerable light on the occurrence of 

 pale varieties of lepidoptera, but we must forbear ! 



We are pleased to recommend to nature lovers, archteologists, and 

 persons interested in folk-lore and kindred subjects, I'he Kentish Note- 

 book : A Record of Men, Manners, Things and Events, connected icith the 

 County of Kent, Edited by G. (). Howell, 210, Eglinton Eoad, Plum- 

 stead, Kent. The contents of this handsomely bound volume appeal to 

 all educated men and women, but more especially to Kentish men and 



