CURRENT NOTES. 69 



obtained from Perth ? and New Forest <? , the experiment producing 

 a very mixed series, the general tendency being to follow the dai'k 

 Perth 2 parent ; very few (three or four) being as light as the ^ 

 parent. (A) A series from an Isle of Wight wild captured ? , this 

 form being quite distinct from that of the New Forest, having a 

 yellowish tinge, and the ground colour being about intermediate 

 between the darkest Perth and hghtest New Forest forms. — 

 L. W. Newman, 



drURRENT NOTES. 



Fleet-Paymaster T. B. Fletcher, R.N., is to be congratulated on his 

 excellent notes on the lifehistory of Bndderia pabidicola, a Cingalese 

 species, whose larva, like our B. jmladum, feeds on Drosera, the species 

 here affected being D. hurmanni. It would really be very remarkable 

 if the whole of the Buckleria group were proved to have " sundew "- 

 feeding larvae. It is quite clear that the species is a Buckleria, the 

 imago being without any scale-patch on the 3rd plumule of the hind- 

 wing, and not a Trichoptilus, in sens, strict. The author's notion that 

 the long spurs on the hind legs of plumes are of use to stretch the 

 wings, separate the plumules, and comb out the long cilia, directly 

 after emergence, is worthy of attention and observation. 



It is with the greatest regret that we have to chronicle the death, 

 on December 25th last, of Canon Zapater, the well-known Spanish 

 entomologist and botanist, at the advanced age of 91. Much of our 

 early knowledge of the insects of Aragon was due to him, and his 

 " Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the Province of Teruel," etc., has 

 long been a recognised and authoritative list of the lepidoptera of this 

 district. 



German entomologists have commenced to interest themselves in 

 thfi phenomenon of " Melanism." Meissner has a paper {Soc. Ent., 

 xii., p. 153), also Kuhnt {Entom. Wochenblatt, xxv., p. 14, and again 

 p. 21), whilst Rey also has a note {op. cit., p. 22). 



One does not get a plethora of good entomological material from 

 Italy; it is, therefore, with the greatest pleasure that we note the 

 receipt of the Bollettino del Lahoratorio di Zoolu(/ia Gcnerale e A(jraria, 

 vol. i., with many excellent plates and 234 figures in the text, 

 published by E. Dalla 'Torre, Premiato Stab. Tep. Visuviano, Portici, 

 Italy. The contributors are : — F. Silvestri, " Contributions to our 

 Knowledge of Anajapyx vesiciilosus, one of the Thysanurids," " A 

 Contribution to the biology of Litomastix triincatellns," and "Descrip- 

 tion of a new genera of apterygotus insects representing a new order" ; 

 G. Leonardi, several papers on Coccids ; G. Martelli, " Contribution 

 to the biology of Fieris brassicae and its parasites," and " On some 

 parasites of Ocnoiiyna haetica, Ramb." ; L. Masi, "Contribution to a 

 Knowledge of the Italian Calcididi." The papers appear to be especially 

 well written. 



A most important Bulletin entitled " A Preliminary account of the 

 Biting-Flies of India," has been published by H. Maxwell-Lefroy, 

 M.A., F.E.S., the Government Entomologist of India. (It may be 

 obtained from the Government of India Central Printing Offices, 

 8, Hastings Street, Calcutta, Price Is. 6d.) The notes on the Tabanids 

 and Muscids (pp. 32-35) are particularly interesting, and the method 

 of describing the hfe-history under the heads of "Egglaying," "Eggs," 



