76 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
themselves the progeny of varleyata and type—Mr. V. EH. Shaw, 
Melanippe fluctuata with the central band carried uniformly across 
the whole width of the upper wings, Bexley, 1908—Mr. H. B. 
Williams, a gynandromorphous Bupalus piniaria with right-hand 
wings and antenna male, and left-hand wings and antenna female.— 
S. J. Bexy, Hon. Sec. 
THe Mancurester Entomonocican Society. — February 3rd, 
1909.—Mr. C. F. Johnson, F.E.S., President, in the chair—The 
President referred to the great loss the Society had sustained through 
the death of Mr. L. Krah, who was a most successful collector and 
breeder of European moths, especially Noctuae.—Mr. W. Mans- 
bridge, F.E.S., read a paper—‘‘ Notes on Gnophos obscuraria,” illus- 
trated by specimens from various localities, showing the great range 
of colour, practically from black to white. He referred particularly 
to the white forms calceata and mundata from Lewes, and expressed 
the opinion that the latter would soon become extinct.—Mr. B. H. 
Crabtree, F.E.S., showed a fine banded form (fasciata) from Folke- 
stone.—Mr. A. H. Davison exhibited a specimen of P. ridens, bred 
from a pupa taken at Timperley, Cheshire, the first record for the 
county.—Mr. A. J. Wilson, several species of Coleoptera and stick- 
insects from the East, and Mr. A. Wright, Micro-Lepidoptera from 
the Burnley District and from Silverdale—A4. W. Boyp, Hon. Sec. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
A Natural History of the British Butterflies, their World-wide Varia- 
tron and Geographical Distribution. A Text-book for Students 
and Collectors. By J. W. Tutt, F.E.S. Vol. ii. London: 
Elliot Stock. 1908. 
‘““Popuntar” books upon “ British Butterflies,’ turned out from 
the press at frequent intervals, with one or two notable exceptions, 
continue to repeat the errors of their predecessors, being no more 
than compilations, and destitute of original observations in any form 
or shape. Mr. Tutt, at all events, leaves no excuse for this particular 
class of vicarious writing and its worst absurdities, while the resump- 
tion of his ‘Natural History of British Butterflies’ will be welcomed 
by all who are able to appreciate the value of a comprehensive work 
upon a subject which has hitherto been treated by too many writers 
in a purely imitative spirit. The completion of the second volume, 
also, must have given food for reflection to a great many entomolo- 
gists who have been put in possession, probably for the first time, of 
the real facts connected with the life-histories of the species enume- 
rated. ‘To none of us, perhaps, would it have seemed possible to 
collect and fill four hundred closely printed pages of demy octavo 
with details of our five “Hairstreaks,”’ and a single “ Blue,” their 
varieties, aberrations, and congeners, and this chiefly the harvest of 
original observation. But this is what Mr. Tutt has done for us, to 
say nothing of the chapters devoted to hybernation and estivation, 
