178 THE entomologist's record. 



annuh'pes), liitlierto unrecorded for Britain. Tt is easily distinguished 

 from its allies " by the twelfth and thirteenth antennal joints being 

 white, the rest brown, and by the dark ring round the femora of the 

 otherwise testaceous legs." 



A hard-working entomologist is most likely to make his mark, by 

 researches among the Diptera. Mr. J. H. Verrall is now jMiblishing in 

 the E.M.M., " A second hundred of new British species of Diptera." 

 Mr. Y. V. Theobald, M.A., of Cambridge, has recently pul)lished the 

 first volume of An Illustrated Account of British Flies {Diptera). 



Mr. J. W. Douglas adds Aleurodes avellanae to the British list, from 

 specimens captured on nut bushes at Glanville's Wootton, Ijy Mr. C. W. 

 Dale, whilst Mr. K. H. Meade describes two new Tachinids under the 

 names of Degeeria dalii and Nemoraea quadraticornis. 



Mr. E. H. Taylor of Fulham, recorded (^.ilf.ilf., p. Ill) the capture 

 of a specimen of the form of Xanthia oceUaris, known as var. lineago, 

 at Wimbledon, on sugar. Prof. Meldola now (I.e., p. 161) mentions 

 the capture of two specimens last autumn, at Twickenham, one by Mr. 

 Boscher, the other by himself, in the garden of the former gentleman. 

 Professor Meldola's specimen (teste Mr. C G. Barrett) is also var. 

 lineago. The species is much like A', gilcago, but can readily be told by 

 the more pointed aj^ex of the fore-wings. Will captors of X. gilcago 

 please inspect their captures carefully ? 



We have to thank the Lancashire and Cheshii'e Entomological 

 Society for a copy of their Report. It contains nothing of scientific 

 value, except Mr. W. E. Sharp's address, but this is a most valuable 

 addition to our scientific literature, being a thoroughly intelligent ex- 

 position of entomology as a science. Slowly, but surely, the scientific 

 entomologist is becoming a force in the wider science of biology. 'J'his 

 naturally reacts on us, and we are all slowly learning that naming 

 insects, although very necessary, is hardly science in itself, and that the 

 entomologists of to-day must read the essays of such men as Professor 

 Weissmann and Mr. Herbert Spencer, if they are to understand their 

 own branch of biology on its scientific side, and that the Lamarckian 

 and Weissmannian principles of heredity must be understood by them, 

 if they are to do their work scientifically. 



In the Ent. 3Io. Mag., pp. 98-99, the Rev. A. E. Eaton writes that 

 in The Ziban, Algeria, towards the end of Mai'ch, Pyrameis cardui (\v\niAi 

 hitherto had not been commoner in the winter than Tortoise- shells in 

 England are apt to be in spring) became vei*y abundant ; some of them 

 were bred in the district, and otliers were supposed to have migrated 

 from southern districts. So abundant were the}', that Maha parciflora, 

 M. sylvestris, Filagos parthulata, and Plantago ovata, were utilised for 

 egg-laying. He further reports that during the week ending April 11th, 

 1894, their numbers had diminished, probably from dispersion or emi- 

 gTation. A later record by the same gentleman, gives them as still 

 abundant, and probably Avaiting for a favourable chance to be off to 

 pastures new. A day or two before and after June 1 7th, large numbers 

 of this s^jccies suddenly appeared in this country, in districts where it was 

 totally absent last summer and autunni, and during the present spring 

 until the date named. The absence of colour and their ragged con- 

 dition, i^oints to their being by no means re(!ently emerged, and there 

 can be no doubt that they were immigrants. One feels puzzled though 

 to explain why it is that a certain individual, after having probably 



