136 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



success, I left them. At six o'clock the next morning the entire 

 abdomen of the male and half of the thorax were covered with eggs. 

 Those nearest the head were quite yellow, showing that the struggle 

 had just ended." 



It is to be hoped that the fair American will continue her observa- 

 tions. The reason for this strange disposal of the eggs is problematical ; 

 it can scarcely be for their safety, since the male, if attacked, "meekly 

 receives the blows, seemingly preferring death, which in several cases 

 was the result, to the indignity of carrying and caring for the eggs." 



G. W. K. 



Second Annual Report of the Kendal Entomological Society. Session 1899. 



The present Report of this enterprising and, we are pleased to say, 

 flourishing Society, comprises twelve pages. The contents include the 

 President's Address and a paper entitled "Directions for Setting 

 Lepidoptera." The former is a review of the work done by the 

 Society collectively and its members individually during the year ; the 

 latter, which is contributed by Mr. Frank Littlewood, is an instructive 

 and practical article. 



OBITUARY. 



We regret to announce that Mr. W. G. Blatch, of Knowle, near 

 Birmingham, died on Feb. 24th last. 



Mr. Blatch was born in London ; we are unable to ascertain the 

 exact date, but we believe that it was about 1840. His education as 

 a boy was not framed on a very liberal scale, but he appears to have 

 been a great lover of books, and quickly assimilated their contents ; and 

 he also instructed himself in, among other subjects, Latin and Greek. 

 Having tried shoemaking, a business that proved not altogether to his 

 liking, he became a pupil-teacher in a school at Colchester ; subse- 

 quently, however, he relinquished this in favour of an appointment in 

 the Essex Hall Idiot Asylum. We next hear of him as one of the 

 first of the " Evangelists " sent out into the rural districts by the late 

 Samuel Morley, M.P. Finally, he was appointed Secretary to the 

 Midland Counties Idiot Asylum, on the foundation of that institution 

 about thirty-two years ago ; this office, combined with that of Super- 

 intendent, he retained until the date of his death. 



Although it was as a coleopterist that Mr. Blatch was best known 

 among entomologists, he was interested in all orders of insects, and a 

 true lover of nature. Most of his published entomological writings 

 will be found in the ' Entomological Monthly Magazine.' He also 

 wrote an article on insects for the ' Guide to Birmingham,' which was 

 published for the British Association Meeting in 1886. For many years 

 he had been engaged on a list of the Coleoptera of the Midlands, but 

 this, unfortunately, has not been published. 



Mr. Blatch was elected a fellow of the London Entomological 

 Society in 1890 ; he was one of the founders of the Birmingham En- 

 tomological Society (established in 1888), and occupied the chair for 

 the first five years. 



