18 [June, 



tlmt TSfhedia semirttfa is found in grocers' warehouses refers to the senii-rnfous form 

 of E. ehifella ; the species now called semirufa has been taken only among old ivy ; 

 \\\e figure (pi. ii, fig. 7) is that of the unicolorous variety of HomcBOsoma sinuella $ . 

 There is doubtless some ground for the assertion that the larva of Dioryctria 

 ahieteHa lives in fir cones in October, and spins a cocoon on the ground for the winter 

 pupating in the spring, for Hofmann's statement is confirmed by M. Kagonot, yet we 

 know that, with us, the larva feeds in the spring, in and below the young shoots of 

 fir, with the Retinice. 



The inclusion of two purely Continental species in this work by mistake for 

 Britisli {Nephopteryx rhenella, Zk., for hostilis, Steph., and MeUssohlaptes anellus, 

 Sch., for hiptincfaimx, Curt.) is, doubtless, accounted for by its advanced state when 

 M. Eagonol's " Revision of the British species of PhycitidcB and OaUeridcB " (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., vol. xsii, p. 17) appeared, and this will explain other similar matters, but 

 the statement on page 50 that the female of Acent) opus is " semi-apterous " is per- 

 plexing. Undoubtedly semi-apterous and even apterous examples have been found, 

 but, supposing there is only one species, they may have been ill-developed. The 

 female has usually much larger wings than the male, well formed and developed, and 

 the figure of A. nireiis on plate 6 is, to all appearance, that of a female. It is also 

 difficult to account for the statement on page 75 that the males of Cramhus prateJlns 

 are paler than the females. 



As the author does not supply descriptions of the species but relies on coloured 

 figures for their identification, a careful scrutiny of the plates is necessary. Many 

 of the figures are excellent, and, in the majority of cases, recognisable ; but a 

 very large proportion of them are drawn from female specimens, and in the cases of 

 Hypena crassalis (called here BomoJochafontis), Aphomia sociella and Chilo cicatri- 

 cellus, in which the (very different) males are not figured, the student has, from this 

 work, no means of identifying them. In the last named species the figure is 

 not recognisable, even as a female, from an error in the sliape of the fore-wings. 

 In Cataclysta lemnata and Scoparia afpina the sexes are transposed, Ebulea 

 verbascalis is represented with three transverse lines, and in several of the Crambidce 

 and Phycitidee identification is rendered difficult by slight errors in their markings. 

 The figure of Epischnia Farrella does not represent that species, but the variety of 

 Anerastia lotella with white costal margin ; and the figure called Myelois cirrigerella 

 on plate 10 bears no resemblance to cirrigereUa in structure, shape, colour, or 

 markings, but is a very good figure of Cledeohia hrunnealis, a native of central and 

 southern Europe. 



We are sorry to have to find fault so persistently with a beginner's first pro- 

 duction ; but works of this class are mischievous, not only from their repetition and 

 perpetuation of errors, but also from the fact that, being attractive, they seriously 

 interfere with the demand for those of greater accuracy and more real value. 



I 



Entomological Society of London : May 4th, 1887. — Dr. David Shakp, 

 F.Z.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Eev. C. Ellis-Stevens, B.D., of Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. ; Mr. Frederic 

 Merrifield, of 24, Vernon Terrace, Brighton ; Mr. Henry Rowland Brown, B.A., of 

 Oxhey Grove, Stanmore ; and Mr. Coryndon Matthews, of Ivybridge, Devon, were 

 elected Fellows. 



