' 160 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



printed in small type, the recent observations and careful descriptions 

 made by the author, Mr. Graves, and Dr. Chapman of its "oviposition," 

 " egg,'' " larva," " pupa," and " habits," being added to all the details 

 amassed here and there from the time of Reaumur (1780), and now 

 thrown together in one connected whole, until one reads on as if the 

 lifehistory were a simple series of observations made during the few 

 weeks preceding publication. The idea of Mr. Graves, in Egypt, 

 procuring living material in late October, that could be sent, and 

 worked out, at home, in our early winter, and so help to fill up any 

 hiatus that might occur, is, in itself, a revolution in the way of obtain- 

 ing a lifehistory of a little-known species. In a case like this, even for 

 entomologists, time seems largely to have been annihilated. But Mr. 

 Lowe has said enough of Lampuies boeticita to put all real workers on 

 the right track. My especial weakness is Chnttendenia {E(Urardsia) 

 iv-albinii. 



One can, like Mr. Lowe, congratulate oneself that the specific 

 name remains unchanged. On the contrary, however, in the 

 generic name the author has been unfortunate, and, naming the 

 genus after one of his chief helpers, Mr. Edwards, finds the 

 name already twice preoccupied, and it becomes necessary to change 

 it in the " Addenda " to Cliatteyulenia. There can be no doubt 

 why " Chattenileiiia," for there must be hundreds of lepidopterists 

 whose series have come from the tine old " Chattenden Houghs " of 

 irifi fame, that climb the hills above Frindsbury, Upnor, Cooling, and 

 Cliffe, and nod across the Thames to Mucking on the other side. 

 Excellent historical entomological ground this now, to be handed on to 

 future naturalists as it must of necessity also be to future Dickensians. 

 The wych-elms in Chattenden are nearl)' everywhere. On those 

 near the gate of the Cliffe entrance scores of larvfe of C/iattenilema 

 n--albiiiii have sometimes been beaten, even from the main road. The 

 trees that lead from Four Elms Hill to the entrance near the keeper's 

 house, and those that lead up past Eley's Farm, in some years abound 

 with the species, the imagines of Avhich are to be seen in dozens 

 circling round their tops or feasting on the bramble and privet blossom 

 near. Of its abundance in the " Roughs " itself the author speaks 

 fully. (Jliattcndenia is, if a new generic name be wanted, a good one 

 for ic-albiini. Its specific name appears to be as firm as such unsteady 

 things can possibly be. 



< Some years ago I wanted to know something about its lifehistory. 

 I knew it fed on elm, and what the fuUfed larva was like, but I wanted 

 to know something about its egg, the time of hatching, the larval 

 habits, its mode of pupation, some explanation, if possible, of its gregari- 

 ous imaginal habits, and so on. I turned up Newman's JJrititili Bnttcr- 

 tiicn, and found something less than two pages. I found the egg "was 

 shaped something like an orange, but more de^^ressed on the crown, 

 and of a whitish or putty colour." What a parody this on the truth, 

 as set out by the author and Dr. Chapman in the new volume, 

 pp. 153-154 and 189-190. Not a word on the " habits of the larva," 

 which Messrs. Bird, McDunnough, Ray ward, and Dr. Chapman have, 

 in the early larval stages, now so excellently worked out, and which the 

 author's own notes show that he himself knows so well. Voelschow's 

 remarks are, as is noted (p. 15G), very remarkable, and his conclusions 

 one suspects not at all probable. Nor did reference to Buckler's Larvae 



