RECENT LITERATURE. 203 



the same place last yeir. He stated that the larvie of T. biundalaria 

 from both Yorkshire and Epping were quite distinct from the larvfe of 

 T. crepiiscularia in marking and coloration. Mr. Tutt remarked that 

 the young larva) of both species were similar to the young larva) of the 

 Ennomids in being black with more or less complete white rings, but 

 said that such similarity did not necessarily show close relationship 

 always. Mr. Malcolm Burr, a few insects from the island of Socotra, 

 and said that at a casual glance the fauna seemed to represent a 

 transition from the Pala3arctic to the Ethiopian region. Mr. Turner, 

 flowers of the bogbean (Menijnnthidis palustris) and of the cinquefoil 

 (PotciiUilla co)narwii) from the neighbourhood of Woolmer Forest. Mr. 

 Lucas, ichneumons which had emerged this year from last year's 

 cocoons of Ziji/ccna tri/ulii, and also an earwig [Chelisoehes morio) from 

 Java, of which species two examples have recently been taken at Kew. 

 In the discussion, several curious instances of parasitism were noted. 

 Mr. Tutt mentioned a parasite on the larvi^ of Melitmi aurinia which 

 had three separate emergences during the life of its host. Mr. Hall 

 said that a particular ichneumon was entirely confined to the young 

 stage of CucuUla verbascL Mr. Adkin, a series of both captured and 

 bred specimens of Tfeniocampa gothica from Loch Laggan. The 

 captured examples were largely gothicina forms, while the latter were 

 very typical, although the ova were from females of the former 

 variety. — Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Report. Sec. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Mittheilungm aus deni Eocmer-Musewn zu HUdesheim. Nr. 8. Februar, 

 1897. Die Schmetterlingsfauna von Hildesheim. Von A. 

 Radcliffe Grote, A.m. 



Some years ago Mr, A. R. Grote, after rendering great service to 

 the study of North American Lepidoptera, removed to Germany, and 

 settled at Hildesheim, where he has begun to publish a series of very 

 useful works on the classification of Lepidoptera, chiefly as worked out 

 by the neuration. The present work is only secondarily a local list of 

 the not very rich local fauna of Hildesheim (about eighty species of 

 Rhopalocera), but is chiefly devoted to an elaborate description of the 

 neuration of the families and subfamilies of butterflies, illustrated by 

 four excellent plates. Mr. Grote does not adopt the usual German 

 system of counting the nervnres upwards, but counts them downward, 

 like the American writers, calling the three principal nervures, radius, 

 media, and cubitus, and numbering them iii., iv., and v. These corre- 

 spond to those frequently called in England the subcostal, median, and 

 submedian nervures respectively. Mr. Grote admits twelve families of 

 butterflies, of which two are not represented in Europe ; but it strikes 

 us as somewhat singular that while classing together the Parnassiid;i3 

 and Papilionidfe as Parnassi-Papilionida3, he should group the re- 

 maining ten families together as Pieri-Hesperiidje, thus uniting the 



