14 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



of Ireland," drags on slowly in The Entomologist. It is a great mis- 

 take to publish such a useful paper as a magazine article. 



Perhaps the most satisfactory sign is the almost entire absence of any 

 really very stupid paper and of papers exhibiting gross ignorance. A few 

 occur, however, perhaps the Editors are led into publishing these from 

 kind-hearted and personal considerations, but their elimination should 

 be absolute. We have to remember that our greatest foe is ignorance, 

 and that an absolute error of fact may be injurious beyond the bound 

 of measurement. 



Of individual efforts I can say scarcely anything. Mr. C. G. Barrett's 

 large work has now reached its 18th os. part, and has so far dealt with the 

 butterflies and Sphingidaj. Mr. Bateson has published a book on the 

 general subject of Variation, which I must confess I liave not seen. I 

 know of no other separate works, bearing directly or indirectly on 

 British lepidoptera, published during the last twelve months, except a 

 so-called popular work Butterflies and 7noths by Mr. Furneaux, F.E.G.S., 

 which reaches almost the lowest depths to which such books can sink. 



Such would appear to be the general summary of work done and 

 progress made during the year now past. The year just commencing 

 should inspire us with hope, and our united efforts will, I trust, show 

 at least as good a record of scientific advance as the year which has so 

 recently disappeared into the dim vista of the past. — Bee. 1894. 



EURRENT NOTES. 



In a recent number of a contemporary, Mr. Pool of Marchwood, 

 states that on " Aug. 18th, about 6 p.m., whilst on the way with a 

 friend to his potato patch, I was looking about the hedges for Coleoptera, 

 when I caught sight of a specimen of P. podalirius settled on a twig. 

 I very carefully secured it between my thumb and linger, and as I had 

 only a laurel bottle and tubes with me, I liad to return to the Magazine 

 for a more suitable receptacle for such a prize. It was fortunate that 

 the insect was not on the wing as I had no net with me." The speci- 

 men was almost certainly an escape. Thousands of pupee of this 

 species are imported from the Continent every year, and undoul)tedly 

 many imagines are set free. The true home of this species is in 

 Central and Southern Europe, and it is not a migrant. 



In the Eat. Mo. Mag. for December, is a notice by the Editors, 

 " Congratulatory to John William Douglas, on the occasion of his 

 80th birthday, with the best wishes of his colleagues, in which they 

 will be joined by a large number of friends. Nov. 15, 1894." Our 

 readers will, we are sure, heartily concur in this tribute of respect to 

 the veteran entomologist. 



Mr. C. G. Barrett concludes, in the E. M. M., his excellent pa]ier on 

 " The Britisli species of the genus Psyche and its allies." Of Fumea, he 

 writes : — " The easier plan would be to lump the majority of the species 

 together, as Mr. Stainton has done under the name of nitidella," but 

 he does not do this, and in fact, excludes the name nitidella altogether. 

 Our British species appear to be : — F. crassiorella, " taken at Hornsey 

 Wood and Bishop's Wood, Highgate." F. iutermedicUa, " with a bright 

 golden or I)i-onzy gloss over its dark brown colour, well and generally 

 known, ils case being found on fences, palings, and tree trunks in 



