

OBITUAEY. 279 



Simferopol, and was recently appointed to an entomological post at 

 Kutais, in the Western Caucasus, where unfortunately he met a tragic 

 end during the past summer, before he had attained his thirtieth year. 

 He had published several papers on the Orthoptera of the Eussian 

 Fauna, mostly in Russian : we know of the following " Orthoptero- 

 logical Notes," {Rev. russe d'Ent., 1905, p. 33), " Note on the Species 

 of Genus Callimenus, F. de W.," [Bev. russe d'Ent., 1906, p. 176), 

 translated into English in the Entomologist, 1907, p. 248, "A Revision 

 of the Genus Gampsocleis,'' {Zap. Xovuross. Obsch. Estest., xxxi., 

 1907), " A sketch of the Fauna of the Government of Cherson," {Hor. 

 Boss. Ent. Soc, xxxviii., p. 109, 1907), and "Kurze Notizen zur 

 geschichte der Krym'schen Fauna." {Mitth. der Kaiikas. Mits., 

 1908).— M.B. 



William Rickman Jeffrey. 



Again we regret to have to record the death of a veteran entomolo- 

 gist. William Rickman Jeffrey was one of those ardent field-workers 

 whom the father of our modern entomology, the late H. T. Stainton, 

 gathered around him in the mid- Victorian period. In the first list of 

 entomologists ever collected, which was compiled by the last-named 

 gentleman, and published in the Entomologist's Annual in 1857, we 

 read the name W. R. Jeffrey, High Street, Reigate, we find his name 

 among the contributors to the pages of the Entomologist's WeeJdy 

 Intelligencer, and he was a constant contributor to the Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine, to which he contributed field-notes as recently as 

 1909. Mr. Jeffrey was a native of Ashford in Kent, where he was 

 born in 1836. Owing to delicate health he was taken from school at 

 the early age of twelve, and for three years spent an outdoor life at 

 Folkestone, where the famous Warren was his constant resort. It 

 was during this period of his life that he not only gained health and 

 strength, but he acquired that taste for the study of nature in the 

 field, which he retained throughout his long life. At the age of 

 fifteen he was apprenticed to the late Mr. Thomas Nichols, watch- 

 maker of Reigate, a very rich entomological locality much worked in 

 the early fifties by H. T. Stainton. A friendship sprang up between 

 young Jeffrey and Stainton, which lasted unbroken until the death of 

 the latter in 1892. Unlike most entomologists he early took up the 

 study of the so-called Micro-lepidoptera, and much information 

 was obtained by him for the various works brought out by his 

 friend. After leaving Reigate he lived for some time at Scarborough, 

 and there met those two enthusiastic and ardent workers in 

 entomology, the late John Scott and the late Thomas Wilkinson, 

 and to the latter's famous work on the British Tortrices he gave 

 or substantiated much detailed information. In the late sixties 

 he returned to his native town of Ashford, where he remained till his 

 death. At Ashford his entomological work was largely done to assist 

 the late William Buckler in his great work, The Larvm of the British 

 Lepidoptera, in which work his name frequently occurs. He could not 

 be a worker at life-histories without an intimate knowledge of wild 

 plants, and that he had this we are assured, since he was in close 

 correspondence with Mr. Fred. J. Hanbury, the author of the Kentish 



