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National Reserves. 



Nor must I omit to mention, among the less technical 

 subjects brought before the Congress, that none met with a more 

 sympathetic reception than the Hon. N. C. Rothschild's plea for 

 the institution of National Reserves throughout the United 

 Kingdom in suitable localities, wherein the insect fauna and 

 flora of these islands may be preserved for the common enjoy- 

 ment of the student and the general public. A " Society for the 

 Promotion of National Reserves " has been formed, and will 

 presently publish its " prospectus." In the United States vast 

 territories have been allowed to remain in a state of primitive 

 nature ; in Sweden, latterly, the Government has " enclosed " 

 certain threatened areas of Lapland ; and in Hungary official 

 permits are required of collectors in favourite localities. Years 

 ago Oxford led the way with the " Ruskin Plot," while a portion 

 of Wicken Fen has already been reserved to the nation for ever. 



Social. 



Lastly, despite the rain of surely the wettest August on 

 record, the excursions arranged for Wednesday afternoon were 

 both extremely successful, large parties enjoying the welcome 

 accorded them by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. 

 L. Vernon Harcourt, M.P., in his lovely Nuneham House ; and 

 the picnic in Bagley Wood, at the invitation of the President and 

 Fellows of St. John's College ; while we shall not soon forget the 

 concluding entertainment of the entire Congress at luncheon, 

 and in the Museum at Tring, by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, 

 F.R.S., to whose support, coupled with that of the " Carnot " of 

 our organization. Dr. K. Jordan, we owe it largely that the Inter- 

 national Congress of Entomology is established and permanent. 

 Meanwhile, the next meeting is fixed to take place at Vienna in 

 1915, under the presidency of Dr. A. Handlirsch. 



BY THE WAY. 



Westwood is, and will ever be, a name to conjure with 

 among us, for never again can an individual possess so complete 

 a grasp of the whole gamut of entomological lore. He was " a 

 man of culture and intelligence and a distinguished entomolo- 

 gist," as says the current ' Strand Magazine '; yet " he never 

 succeeded in pronouncing the letter *h.'" He once asked his 

 friend Mansel who was St. Bee ? Remembering his peculiarity, 

 Mansel replied that he was a near kinsman of St. 'Ives. At an 

 electoral contest between Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Hardy, West- 

 wood, coming in late, hurried and breathless, announced his 

 vote for " Glad — no, no— I mean 'Ardy." Henry Smith claimed 



