1868. 285 



It has always beon a standing reproach that, out of the probable number of 

 1500 collectors of Lepidoptera in Britain, not one fiftieth part attend to aught that 

 occurs outside the narrow limits of these islands ; a practice fraught with many 

 objections, as it occasions a self-chosen ignorance of the broad principles of 

 entomological science, and tempts the too often unscrupulous dealer to palm 

 off imported insects as native-born. A continental entomologist of any country 

 very seldom confines his attention solely to home productions ; and, though 

 he may profess to make only an European collection, his ideas of the exact boun- 

 daries of the regions beyond which he will not deign to inquire are usually very 

 vague. Thus we find so-called European collections containing insects from the 

 African shores of the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor, Siberia, and even from 

 Greenland. Contrast this with the practice that excludes the productions of the 

 Channel Islands from the British Fauna, and then consider which is likely to enter- 

 tain the more philosophical ideas, — a British or a Continental entomologist ! 

 HoweveV, " out of evil cometh good ;" and owing to our isolation, mentally and 

 physically, no country has probably a more clear notion of its peculiar Fauna and 

 Flora than Britain : and in Mr. Fust's elaborate paper this is still further concen- 

 trated. Extending the system elucidated by Mr. Watson in his " Cybele Britannica," 

 he divides Britain into 18 provinces and 38 sub-provinces, with an addition of 4 

 provinces representing Ireland. Hence there are three series of tables, — one for 

 provinces, a second for sub-provinces, and a third indicating the " type " (e. g., — 

 " Germanic," " Atlantic," &c.) to which each species is supposed to pertain : this 

 latter table is, to our mind, of the least value, the typical divisions being probably 

 cliimerical. For the best of reasons the tables are carried only as far as the end of 

 the Cramhina. The work has occupied Mr. Fust's attention for many years, and 

 must have occasioned great labour in its compilation, inasmuch as his information 

 has not only been derived from the lists sent to him by many of our principal Lepi- 

 dopterists, but also from the records scattered through the myriad of existing and 

 extinct publications devoted entirely or partially to Entomology. It appears to us 

 to be most carefully worked out, and should be in the hands of all who aspire to be 

 something more than "collectors." Some of the negative evidence is curious, not to 

 say ludicrous : thus Pieris rapes is not noticed as occurring in a considerable portion 

 of the Scotch Highlands, simply of course from want of information, not from 

 absence of the insect. 



We cannot afford space for a longer notice of this valuable contribution to 

 Entomology. To the isolated ' Britisher ' it will prove of much service in helping him 

 to an answer to the cui bono of his locaUsing tendencies ; to the entomologist of more 

 extended views, who will carefully compare it with continental local lists, it will bo 

 found suggestive of much fruitful speculative thought. Those who are fond of light 

 reading in science will probably find little in it to interest them ; it is par excellence 

 a book for the study. 



Entomological Society of London, March IQth, 1868. H. W. Bates, Esq., 

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



C. Can-ington, Esq., of Wcstwood Park, Forest Hill, was elected a Member. 

 Mr. Smith exhibited a cocoon of the size of a man's head, constructed by a 



