160 THE entomologist's record. 



interest us perhaps more than all others. Last year we gave a short 

 review of one under the above title, and we feel as little inclined 

 to pass this year's over with just a few words of praise. Captain 

 Geddes, we see, gives an account of a i-emarkably late brood of Vanessa 

 antiopa in the Bermudas. He found " the larva? feeding on the yellow 

 and partly faded leaves of a young elm tree, which they nearly stripped 

 of its foliage ; many of the larva? fell to the ground with the falling 

 leaves. The butterflies from this brood came out in the house on the 

 the 6th and 7th of November." An account of Pamphila metacomet by 

 Mr. Fletcher is exceedingly interesting. He describes it in all its 

 stages, but 1 would specially call attention to the following extract : — 

 " When ready to pupate the larva spins a close cocoon similar to that 

 of Acronicta oblinita, the end of which is stopped up with a silvery- 

 white, flakey powder which is emitted through the skin apparently, 

 from two lai-ge white patches plainly visible just previous to pupation 

 through the skin beneath segments 11 and 12 . . . The tongue case 

 protrudes beyond the wing cases as in Pamphila cernes, &c." We have 

 still much to learn about our Skipper butterflies ; more, perhaps, than of 

 any other group of butterflies. The presidential address by Mr. W. 

 Hague Harrington, F.R.S.C, is an excellent resume of the woi-k of the 

 Society for the last 25 years. We are reminded by the President that 

 " the contributions dealing with lepidoptera probably equal in number 

 and volume those relating to all the remaining groups. This, how- 

 ever, is not surprising, for to this Order belong the most beautiful 

 examples of all terrestrial life ; flowers of the air, their wings decked 

 with all the hues that blossom or gem can show ; as they wing their 

 brilliant flight through the glad summer days, or hover radiantly over 

 the fragrant blooms, they naturally appeal to every heart whicli is 

 warmed by the least vestige of artistic or poetic grace." He has a 

 word of warning, too, for the collector,' against tlie amassing of large 

 collections, since the latter so fre(]uently engross the former's time that 

 one "■ l)ecomes merely an insect curator instead of an entomologist." 

 In Mr. Lyman's paper, " Common names for Butterflies — shall we 

 have them ? " he states both sides of the (piestion very fairly. In the 

 course of his remarks he says, " It is all very well to say that it should 

 be as easy to remember the scientific as the popular name, but it isn't ; " 

 and concludes as follows: — "If it be agreed that the adoption of 

 popular names is on the whole desirable is it practicalde ? No doubt it 

 is for a limited fauna like that of England or of New England, but is it 

 for the whole of North America ? Who will undertake to invent 

 suitable popular names for the upwards of sixty species of Argynnis, 

 the nearly forty species of Melitaea, the fifty species of Thecla, the 

 equal number of species of Lycaena, or the upwards of ninety species 

 now grouped under the generic name Pamphila ? " A very practical 

 question this ; we quite agree with Mr. Lyman that the " idea appears 

 to be utterly hopeless and impracticable ; " we would also add — utterly 

 unnecessary. An excellent ]iaper by the Rev. C. J. S. Bethune on 

 the " The Butterflies of the Eastern Provinces of Canada," with notes, 

 localities, and woodcuts, is very interesting. Coenomympha inornata, of 

 which we want to learn something in order to compare it with 

 Cfjyphon, is dismissed as " a very rare butterfly taken at Massasanga Pt. 

 (Macoun). Lake Winnipeg, Sault Ste. Marie, and in Newfoundland and 

 Labrador." The Kev. T. W. Eyles gives us an interesting paper on 



