EECENT LITERATUEE. 79 



intermediate forms, bred this season, from York; and Zygcena lonicercR 

 var. semilutescens, bred, York. By Mr. W. Hewett, Acronycta Jiynstri 

 var. olivacea, Driffield; dark forms of Liiperina testacea, from Hartle- 

 pool and Darlington; varieties of S. luhricipcda, from Driffield, 

 Barnsley, Darlington, and York (one from Driffield having the 

 hind wings of the var. nnliata colour, i. e., smoky black, the 

 base, wing-rays, and fringe alone being cream-coloured ; the head 

 and thorax cream-coloured ; the body yellow, with six black spots 

 down the middle and on each side ; the antennae simple ; the fore 

 wings typical) ; an exceedingly fine variety of Arctia caia, from Hull 

 (this variety has the fore wings of an almost uniform brown colour, the 

 hind wings, with the exception of the base and fringe, being black) ; 

 forms of Orthosia pistaciiia, selected from numerous examples taken at 

 Hull ; variable series of T<eniocainpa gothica, selected from more than 

 300 bred specimens, Darlington ; dark melanic form of Smerinthus 

 pojjtdi, of a uniform smoky black, from Beverley ; variety of Vanessa 

 c-alhum, having the hind wings of a uniform chocolate colour, Yorks ; 

 H. progemnmria vav.fuscata, York; also a long bred series of T. biun- 

 dularia var. delamerensis, York ; melanic forms of Diuniea fagella, 

 Sledmere ; a very dark variety of A. grossulanata, having the fore 

 wings almost entirely black, from Beverley, and a dark variety from 

 Driffield ; long and variable series of Lomaspilis marginata, from York ; 

 two suffused examples of Ephyra pendularia, York; light forms of 

 A. ulmata from Sledmere, and black forms from Edlington Wood 

 near Doncaster ; also a very light (almost white) specimen of 

 A. idnuita, and a peculiar lead-coloured variety of same species from 

 Drewton Dale, Yorkshire, 1893 ; pale variety of S. popiUi, Hull ; 

 two dark forms of Odontopera bidentata, Hull ; forms of Anchocelis 

 litura and A. pistacina, from York, Beverley, Pocklington, and 

 Holtby ; very dark forms of Noctiia xanthographa, Yorks ; two varieties 

 of Venusia camhricaria, from Sledmere; varieties of 0. suspcctu, York; 

 Z. lonicercB var. semilutescens, York; variable series of Apamea fibrosa, 

 from Wicken Fen ; a fine variety of V. urticce, bred about the year 

 1877, Beverley; also some fine dark varieties of A. grossidariata, bred 

 this season at York ; and two very pale varieties of same species from 

 Yorkshire. — William Hewett, Hu7i. Sec. ; December, 1893. 



EECENT LITEKATURE. 



Brief Guide to the Commoner Butterfiies of the Northern United States 

 and Canada. By Samuel Hubbard Scudder. New York : Holt 

 & Co. 1893. 12mo, 12 + 206 pp. 



The author has in this work carried out an excellent idea of aiding 

 the beginner in the study of the butterflies which he would probably 

 meet with, in the area indicated, during the first year or two of 

 industriously collecting. The description of each species is lucidly 

 given under the three heads of Butterfly, Caterpillar and Chrysalis ; 

 then follows an account of the form and structure of the egg, the mode 

 of oviposition, and the food-plant of the larva, together with much 

 interesting matter completing the life-history of the insect. 



