RETROSPECT OF A LEPIDOPTERIST. 3 



mologists who do not see the Transactions of the Society. The City 

 of London Entomological Society deservedly holds a high place, 

 thanks to Messrs. Prout, Bacot, and others, whose scientific papers are 

 of the highest value. Their excellent meeting-place at the London 

 Institution should attract all London entomologists. The South 

 London Entomological Society — thanks to its excellent secretaries — 

 has provided a good list of papers to be read, and issued their 

 Proceedings fairly early in the year. The North London Entomo- 

 logical Society maintains its active course, whilst of our provincial 

 societies, that at Leicester has taken quite a lead in the question of the 

 " destruction of our local insects." Their Proceedimjs, too, contain 

 some excellent papers. The Lancashire and Cheshire Society held an 

 exhibition while the British Association meetings were going on in 

 Liverpool. Of the Birmingham and York Societies we hear next to 

 nothing. It is a pity some scientific work is not regularly turned out 

 from these centres. The Cambridge Society, under the guidance of 

 Dr. Sharp, maintains its position, whilst the Nonpareil Society 

 appears to gratify the gregarious want of the workers of East London. 



Of papers that have been read this year, few can be classed in the 

 first rank. " On the relation of the mimetic patterns to the original " 

 (Dixey, Trans. Ent. Soc. Land.) ; " Notes on Pupae — Orneodes, Eper- 

 menia, Chrysocurys and Pterophorus" (Chapman, Ibid.), and "On the 

 Phylogeny and Evolution of the Lepidoptera from a pupal and oval 

 standpoint" (Chapman, Ibid.), are the best. A brief summary of the 

 latter is published, Ent. Rec, viii., pp. 287-289. Many useful papers, 

 however, may have attention called to them : — " Some aspects of 

 hibernation " (Dixey, Ent. Rec.) ; " On Alucita (Orneodes) he.vadactyla, 

 chiefly in relation to the structure of the pupa " (Chapman, Ent. 

 Rec.) ; " Antennffi of Lepidoptera " (Bodine : resume in Ent. Rec.) ; 

 " Relationship of Endromis to the Sphingides " (Bacot, Ent. Rec.) ; 

 " Relationship of the lower Lepidoptera with Trichoptera " (Tutt, Ent. 

 Rec.) ; " On the structure and development of the lepidopterous wing" 

 (Sharp, E.M.M.) ; " Experiment bearing on the number of larval 

 instars and the distinctness of larval and pupal instars in Lepidoptera" 

 (Chapman, -E.il/.il/.). Classification has given us, besidesDr. Chapman's 

 papers, — " The modern principles on which classification is based" 

 (Tutt, Trans. City Land. Ent. Soc.) ; " Neuration in the Lepidoptera, 

 etc." (Quail, Ent. Rec). The discussion on " hybernation " has pro- 

 duced : — " The resting habits of insects " (Riding, Kane, Ent. Rec.) ; 

 "How Colias edusa winters," "The hybernating stages of British 

 butterflies," " Hybernation of certain butterflies in the imago state" 

 (Tutt, Ent. Rec). " Melanippe jiuctiiata and its varieties," and "The 

 Tephrosia tangle" (Ent. Rec.) remind us that Mr. Prout loves to 

 unravel synonymy; whilst the papers on "Mimicry" (Ent. Rec.) 

 state critically Prof. Weismann's latest pronouncement on this 

 subject. " The aberrations of secondary sexual characters in Papilion- 

 idae" (Watson, Entom.) should also be read. 



On the other side of the picture we have " Fungi parasitic on 

 butterflies " (Rickard, Entom.), in which the author described the 

 well-known androconia as fungi, and stated that he was cultivating 

 spores from them on glass. " The senses of insects " (Arkle, Entom.), 

 from which we learn only one fact, viz., that the author's " faith lies 

 in the story of the creation." Then there are sundry wordy articles 



