RETROSPECT OF A LEPIDGPTERIST. 13 



a worthy companion, rather more complete and exhaustive perliaps tlian 

 Mr. C G. Barrett's paper on " The British species of the genus Ptujche, and 

 its allies," wliich, however, is a ver}'^ useful contribution to our scientific 

 knowledge of the group. Mr. Louis B. Front's papers '• On Coremia 

 ferriKjaria and C. iinidentaria " and " Melanippe ricata and M. sociata " 

 (Ent. Eec.) show him to be a scientist of no mean order, with a thorough 

 grasp of the differentiation of allied species. " Erehia epiphroti and its 

 named varieties" {Eat. Record) is another excellent synonymic study- 

 by Dr. Buckell, as also is his paper " On Anosia (irchipjrns," which shows 

 into what errors the best of entomologists may fall. " Zi/gnena exnhins 

 and its named varieties " (I.e.) is an attempt to clear up a rather long- 

 standing muddle. Dr. Riding's paper " On an additional metliod for 

 detecting the species of certain lepidoptera" (I.e.) makes us desire to see 

 more of the work of such an excellent observer. Mr. Hampson con- 

 tributes a useful paper, which is open however to serious doubt, and 

 almost solicits criticism, " On recent contributions to the classification 

 of Lepidoptera, by Prof. J. H. Comstock and Dr. T. A. Chapman " (Ann. 

 and Mag. of Nat. Hist.). Papers that cannot altogether be passed in silence 

 are Capt. Thompson's, " The pronunciation and accentuation of Ento- 

 mological names " (Ent. Record), and Mr. Bayne's " Notes on Ni/ssia 

 hispidaria"(J.c.), a model of what a good field naturalist's notes and observa- 

 tions may be made to assume. Two papers to which reference has 

 previously been made in these joages may again be referred to ; these 

 are the annual addresses delivered to the South London Ent. Soc. in 

 1892 and 1893, by Messrs. C. G. Barrett and J. Jenner Weir respec- 

 tively ; whilst Mr. W. E. Sharp's (the Vice President) address to the 

 Lancashire and Cheshire Society, entitled " The New Entomology," is 

 a good study of the philosophical bearings of our science. But among 

 the minor constellations, Avho dabble in the philosophical aspect of ento- 

 mology, three men stand out as giants among the crowd. These are 

 Professor Poulton, Dr. Chapman and Dr. Dixey. AVe believe the 

 former's work has this year been published in The Proceeding.'^ of the 

 Roj/aJ Societi/ of London. Dr. Chapman has given us only two or three 

 short studies, " Some notes on tlie Micro-Lepidoptera wliose larva^ are 

 external feeders, and chiefly on the early stages of Eriocephnla caltheUa " 

 (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.) ; " The evolution of the lepidopterous pupa " 

 (Ent. Record), and the completion of his observations on " The larva? of 

 Arctia caia (I.e.) " Dr. Dixey gave us an excellent paj^er " The phylogeny 

 of the Pierinae, as illustrated by their wing-markings and geographical 

 distribution " (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lowd.), whilst following Mr. Merrifield's 

 " Temperature experiments in 1893, on several species of Vanessa and 

 other lepidoptera " (I.e.), Dr. Dixey gave us another excellent jiaper " On 

 Mr. Merrifield's experiments in temperature variation, as bearing on 

 tlieories of heredity " (I.e.). Neither can we afford to lose siglit of 

 Prof. Weismann's entomological references in the Romanes' lecture for 

 1894, a brochure which has akead}^ l)een reviewed in these columns, 

 whilst another paper to be read is one by Mr. F. Gowland Hoi)kins, 

 entitled " The pigments of the Pieridae : a contribution to tlie study of 

 excretory substances which function in ornament" (Proceedings Roijal 

 Society), in which " the wing scales of the white Pieridae are shown to 

 contain uric acid, this substance bearing the same relation to the scale as 

 do the pigments in the coloured Pieridae, and therefore functioning 

 practically as a white pigment. Mr. Kane's " List of the Ijepidoptera 



