114 THE ENTOMOLO'JIST. 



trldens and Acronycta psi be so extremely difficult to separate as 

 imagines, but so distinct as larvae ? How many of us know 

 anything of the structure of the ova of insects, or why insects 

 come to sugar one night and not another ? No, we are, after all, 

 collectors, only in different degrees. 



The time will come, if we keep our insect fauna pure and 

 unmixed, when it will be of great value to naturalists in un- 

 ravelling the mystery of the great plan of Nature, simply on 

 account of our insular position. Where else in this geographical 

 region can the same extent of locality be found, on which 

 various insects have for countless generations been propagated 

 without admixture of " improving strains " ? Even this has been 

 suggested by those who only are fit to breed fancy pigeons, and 

 that we should get European pupae, and put them down in places 

 where local insects occur, " to improve the breed !" 



I think many will agree with me in the opinion, that if a man 

 chooses to study the insect fauna of any particular group of 

 islands, or geographical catchment basin, or even his native 

 county, he has a right to do so ; and if any man, directly or in- 

 directly, palms off a specimen which was captured in Kent, upon 

 the student who is working the fauna of Sussex, that man 

 commits a deliberate fraud, and should be treated with the 

 contempt he deserves, if with nothing worse. 

 Royal Aquarium, Westminster, S.W., April 23, 1882. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Funeral of the late Mr. Darwin.— The Abbey of "West- 

 minster was this day densely filled, although the admission was 

 strictly by ticket, with those who attended to show their respect 

 to the great man of Science now lying at rest. The coffin, which 

 was of polished oak, — and bore on a plain brass -plate the 

 inscription, " Charles Eobert Darwin, born February 12th, 1809 ; 

 died April 19th, 1882, — was removed from Down to the Abbey 

 precincts last night. At twelve to-day the procession left the 

 Chapter House, the pall-bearers being the Duke of Devonshire, 

 the Duke of Argyll, Mr. J. B. Lowell (the American Minister), 

 Mr. Spottiswoode (President of the Royal Society), Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, Mr. A. R. Wallace, Professor Huxley, Sir John Lubbock 



