48 THK ENTOMOLOGIST. 



shaping the aid placed at his service by those less gifted 

 than himself, in the details of field observation, and of 

 museum illustration by coloured drawings or fac-simile 

 modelling. This collection is already a nucleus of a very 

 valuable, popular, and illustrated history of insect friends 

 and insect foes; the practical value of which will generally' 

 perhaps be better appreciated in time to come, but which is 

 already bearing good fruit for public benefit. Our country- 

 men in America, thanks to State help, have indeed set an 

 example for following, and given an instance of the practical 

 importance of Entomology. The labours of Walsh, Rile\', 

 Fitch, and Packard, leave us far behind ; but the perfection 

 of such a collection as the one now under government 

 control would be a worthy exponent of practical Entomology 

 in Britain. On this collection, of which one hundred and fifty 

 cases are more or less complete, Mr. Murray was working up to 

 his latest days, leaving a large collection of oak-galls and 

 illustrative drawings still in progress of arrangement. To 

 assist in the circulation of information a series of guides to 

 the collection were projected. These were to take the form 

 of popular handbooks to Entomology, and were to be 

 prepared by Mr. Murray, and published under government 

 supervision. Of the eight intended volumes one only has 

 appeared : this treats of the wingless species, or Aptera (it 

 was reviewed, Entom, x. 102). In Mr. Murray we have lost 

 a man of varied accomplishments, a good botanist, and a 

 good entomologist, especially with reference to Coleoptera. 

 Those who knew him well, and they were many, will feel his 

 loss, not only as a gifted naturalist, but as a true-hearted 

 friend and an admirable man. — E. A. F. 



James Robinson. — After a painful illness there died at 

 York, on the 14th of last October, James Robinson, aged 

 fifty-nine years. For the last twenty-four years he was well 

 known in the North of England as a careful collector and 

 patient observer of Lepidoplera. All the spare hours from 

 his work, as a cabinet-maker, were spent in following his 

 favourite pursuit of Natural History. Born at Ripon, and 

 living in York most of his life, he restricted his observations 

 almost entirely to his native county ; but there are few 

 localities, reasonably accessible, near York, which he has not 

 explored by night or by day. Being a genial companion, 

 and always ready to impart to others the knowledge gained 

 by hard experience, he is much missed by the little band of 

 workers in Natural Science at York. — Ed. 



