264 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



OBITUARY. 



We deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. Ambrose Quail at 

 Tamworth, New South Wales, on the 11th of February, 1905, at the 

 early age of thirty- three. 



He had to leave England some nine years ago owing to the 

 breakdown of his health, and resided for some years at Palmerston 

 North, New Zealand. Unfortunately a series of bad seasons caused 

 a return of his complaint, and after a brief visit to England in the 

 autumn of 1903 he returned to the colonies, obtaining some benefit 

 from a short residence in Queensland, but dying six months after 

 taking up work at Tamworth. 



Mr. Quail was a rising and brilliant student belonging to the 

 newer school of lepidopterists, following the methods of Drs. Dyar and 

 Chapman in larval and pupal description ; and there is no doubt that 

 had he lived he would have occupied a place in the foremost ranks of 

 entomologists. Added to great keenness of observation and wonder- 

 ful patience in his researches, he was also possessed of remarkable 

 skill as a draughtsman, as the profuse and beautiful plates illustrating 

 his papers testify. His published contributions include several papers 

 in the ' Transactions ' of the Entomological Society of London, others 

 appearing in the pages of this Journal, ' Natural Science,' and the 

 'Entomologists' Kecord.' He also contributed to the 'Proceedings' of 

 the Eoyal Society of Queensland, and the 'Transactions' of the New 

 Zealand Institute. The latest and probably best known of his work 

 was that dealing with the Hepialidae and Cossida?, groups that had 

 always been especial favourites, and which his residence in Australia 

 and New Zealand afforded him special opportunities to study. His 

 loss is keenly felt by all who were personally known to him, and it 

 will be a matter of regret to the wider circle of his readers that so 

 energetic and capable a personality was not longer spared to enrich 

 the world's knowledge in his special line of research. 



John William Douglas passed away, at the ripe age of ninety 

 years, on August 28th last. Although perhaps chiefly interested in 

 Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera, almost all orders of the 

 Insecta received some share of his attention. He contributed im- 

 portant monographs and other valuable writings to the ' Transactions ' 

 of the Entomological Society of London, the ' Entomological Magazine,' 

 the ' Zoologist,' and the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.' He was 

 part author of the ' Natural History of the Tineina ' (13 vols., 1855- 

 1873), and, in conjunction with Scott, produced ' British Hemiptera- 

 Heteroptera' (1 vol., 1865). In 1856 he published 'The World of 

 Insects,' a small but excellent entomological manual. He was co- 

 editor of the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine,' and in this position 

 he had been associated with the Journal from the year 1874, when Dr. 

 Knaggs terminated his connection with it. He had been President, 

 and also Honorary Secretary, of the Entomological Society of London, 

 to which he was elected in 1845. Few men have done so much to 

 foster or awaken appreciative interest in the world of insects. 



