OBITUARY. 148 
Suggestions in Fly-control” (C. W. Howard) ; “ Warble-flies” (C. W. 
Howard); ‘Truck Crop Insects” (Wm. Moore): ‘“ Wireworms ”’ 
(Warren Williamson); ‘“ Preliminary Notes on the Odonata of 
Southern Minnesota” (A. D. Whedon) ; ‘‘ The Acridiidze of Minne- 
sota’”” (M. P. Somes). The last two are papers of importance. One 
or two details in connection with odonate nymphs seem not quite to 
agree with our experience; for instance, our single Cordulegaster 
appears to oviposit quite at random, and not to attempt to place its 
eggs in plant-tissues. The papers are illustrated by a number of 
excellent plates, some being beautifully coloured. 
2. Indian Forest Insects of Economic Importance—Coleoptera. By 
E. P. Sreppinc. London. 1914. Pp. xvi + 648. 
Tuts is a comprehensive quarto volume, well printed and fully 
illustrated with Ixiii plates (some being coloured), and 401 figures in 
the text. Written primarily for economic purposes, it is nevertheless 
sufficiently general and scientific in its treatment to be of great use 
to any Coleopterist. 
W. J. Lucas. 
OBITUARY. 
BERNARD PIFFARD. 
On March 28th, 1916, at Christchurch, Hants, there closed the 
long and eventful life of Bernard Piffard, elder brother of that well- 
known coleopterist, the late Albert Piffard. 
Of French Huguenot descent, he was born at Tottenham in 1832, 
and was the son of James Guerard Piffard, who was himself an 
entomologist of some repute. Under the tuition of their father both 
Bernard and Albert Piffard commenced the study of insects in their 
very early years, and the love of Nature so implanted never left 
them. Some of Bernard Piffard’s first collecting was done in the 
New Forest in the company of his father. ; 
Educated partly in London and partly at Nyon in Switzerland, he 
was intended for the medical profession, for which he studied at 
University College, London, and, though he never qualified, his know- 
ledge of medicine proved of great use to him in his travels. 
Soon after leaving college, impelled by that ‘‘ wander lust” 
which, he admitted, was always with him, he journeyed to the then 
almost unknown mountains of Armenia, narrowly escaping from the 
country with his life after having been robbed of all his belongings, 
including botanical and entomological collections. In 1854 he was 
up the Demarara river, living for some months in an Indian village, 
collecting plants and insects and studying the folk-lore of the 
natives ; while in 1855 we find him attached to the Turkish Army in 
the Crimea as an interpreter, a post which, no doubt, he filled 
admirably on account of his intimate knowledge of the Turkish 
language. After the fall of Sebastopol he returned to this country, 
