CURRENT NOTKS. 143 



commencled itself to Mr. Farren is tlie use of a fine jet of steam, 

 applied to tlie under-surface at the junction of the wings with the 



thorax. Speaking' of Ins method of usiuji; tliis, Mr. Farren says : " I 



had a finely-bored gas-fitter's blowpipe soldered into the lid of a 

 small saucepan, making a miniatui'e steam kettle. I found it necessary 

 to have the lid of the saucepan soldered all round, and a small liol'e 

 with a screw ca}) made for jiutting in the water, as the steam escaped 

 so freely from tlie lid as to prevent its coming through the fine hole of 

 the blow-pipe. The most convenient way of using it is to have a o-as 

 or spirit stove on the table, then set the saucepan lialf-filled with 

 water, to boil ; . . . . The insect to be relaxed should be held not too 

 near the blow-pipe, as the force of the steam may be too strong ; nor, 

 too far off, as the larger volume of steam wets the wings." 



Mr. C. G. Barrett, at the request of Mr. A. Wyndam Peach, records 

 {E.3I.M., February) the occurrence of another specimen of XantJiia 

 ocellaris which was taken by Mr. F. Cannon near Wimbledon in 

 October last. [I have twice examined the specimen with care, and 

 am decidedly of opinion that it is only an ordinary variety of 

 X. gilvago. J. W. Tutt.] We hear from "Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher of 

 another capture of the Simon Pure near Bognor. 



Mr. Harrison G. Dyar reviews, in The Canadian Entomologist for 

 February, a paper in Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud, for 1892, in which "Mr. W. 

 Schaus describes as new, 1 80 species of ' Bombycid ' moths from 

 Mexico and various parts of Soiith America, with three ' new genera.' " 

 Mr. Dyar contends that the generic descriptions are utterly inadequate 

 and thinks that " the question should be raised seriousl}^ whether 

 names founded on such descriptions should be recognised. . . . Surely 

 it is time to call a halt. Some standard of generic description must be 

 adopted, or else what is the use of multiplicating so-called ' descriptions ' 

 that do not describe. Better to save puzzling over meaningless 

 sentences and simply say : ' new genus, type in my collection.' " 



The President and Council of the Eoyal Society invited the Fellows 

 of the Entomological Society to attend, on February 28th, a meeting- 

 of the former Society, when the subject of " Variation in Animals and 

 Plants " was discussed. Prof. Weldon, Prof. Thistledon Dyer, Prof. 

 Lankester, the Frencli savant, Mons. Agassiz, Mr. Bateson, Szc, took 

 part in the discussion. 



gOCIETIES. 



The annual meeting of the South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society was held on Jan. 24th, 1895. j\Ir. T. W. 

 Hall, F.E.S., was elected President for the year, Mr. Stanley Kdwards, 

 F.L.S., F.E.S., of Kidbrook Lodge, P>lackheath, Hon. Corresponding 

 Secretary, and Mr. Hy. J. Turner, F.E.S., of 13, Drakefell Koad^ 



Hatcham, S.E., Hon. lieporting Secretary. At the meetin*'- on Feb. 



14th, Mr. C. A. Briggs exhibited (on belialf of Mr. Cnrrington) the fruit 

 of Euonymus japonica from Ventnor, wliich locality was stated to be the 

 extreme nortliern limit of growth of this shrub. Mr. Peach: a speci- 

 men, said to be Xautkia ocellaris, from Wimbledon. All those present 

 considered the specimen to be merely a var. of X. gilvago. Mr. Adkin, 



