CURRENT NOTES. 



219 



shown foi- putting them into one genus, does not commend itself to us, 

 nor does it tend to give us the detailed knowledge that we want, r/c, 

 that certain species in these large unwieldy so-called genera are much 

 nearer to each other than to other species included in the group, and 

 the comparative position these subdivisions hold to each other. ]S'one 

 of this criticism, which may be held to be entirely due to personal 

 predilection, however, detracts from the excellence of the systematic 

 part of the work, which appears to be carefully worked out, and gener- 

 ally thoroughly done, and exhibits well the care that the author has 

 taken to obtain an inspection and first-hand knowledge of the types 

 of many rare and little known species. The specialist will be particu- 

 larly thankful for the long series of beautiful figures, among others 

 being the new species — Mahathala hainana, ArJiupala dohertyi, A. kiri- 

 irinii, A. niindaiiensis, etc. On plates iv and v a large number of genitalia 

 are carefully depicted, and these add much to the value of the work. 

 Altogether the fu'risioti brings together a mass of hitherto scattered 

 material in an easily accessible and well-arranged form, and reflects 

 great credit on the author, who must have spent a great amount of 

 time and devoted much patient labour before completing the work. 



We are in receipt of the 'rraitsdctioiis <if the City of London Entoino- 

 I'xjlral and Natural Historii Sncii'ty, for 1903, which are, so far as 

 the contents are concerned, c^uite up to the usual standard. The 

 reports of proceedings are particularly well arranged under headings, 

 whilst the special papers include a reference to melanism in Mr. 

 Mera's Presidential Address ; '• Variation in Sciadion {(Jnophos) obscu- 

 rata," by Mr. L. B. Prout, an excellent paper in every way ; " Notes 

 on breeding (Tonodontis hidentata ab. nirfra," by T. H. Hamlin, an 

 exceedingly useful paper on the lines of work suggested by ^Ir. Bateson, 

 and " Tacuarembo," by Mr. A. F. Bayne, with whom, above all things, 

 we should like to be, when on his entomological excursions in Brazil. 

 We are intensely pleased with these notes from an old friend and fellow- 

 member ; they remind us of many happy hours spent in the rooms at 

 the London Institution at a time, that will soon have to be defined as, 

 many years ago. We hope he will write again and often. The 

 number of printer's errors in this part, are, fortunately quite unusual. 

 W^ithout looking for them, a glance at the early pages introduces one 

 to "central fascial," " irridescent," ••emergencies," " emergered," 

 - Eynsford," " HelHn's," '• Mr. W. L. Prout," ■' Mr. Prout, L. B.," 

 ^' attanticKs," '• jaiwira," " Pyra)/iii'.s,'' '' Apantelis," ^^ bcrolensis,'" 

 *' Itt/dastricana,'' and many other evident cases of the MSS. not being 

 followed. On p. 18 " Mali'ndryi>^ " and " Mdendryi.s " occur in suc- 

 cessive lines, whilst on page H we read " Sphinx pinastri ALivE.--Dr. 

 Chapman further exhibited some bred living Sphin.c li(/n.stri,'' the latter 

 certainly not quite intelligible. We congratulate the Society on the 

 stand-ard of its work, and trust tliat another year these minor 

 blemishes will disappear. 



The volitme of I'roi'et'diiii/s nf tlw Sant/i London Kntonioloyical and 

 Natural flistory Society, for 190o, is, if not quite so bulky as some of its 

 predecessors, at least quite up to the average, consisting as it does of 90 

 pages, with a beautiful plate done by colour-photography, and chart. 

 There are a number of most interesting papers, which all naturalists 

 should see, and the faunistic reports of the field outings make an 

 excellent feature and reflect great credit on the secretaries. The chart 

 of the Oxted district (illustrating Mr. Adkin's report) is an excellent 



