100 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Harker, and the Hon. Secretarv, long and variable series of Noctua festiva 
and N. conflua; and Messrs. Harker and Jones, British and Continental 
forms of Lycena icarus.—F. N. Pierce, Hon. Sec. 
Brruincuam Entomotocrcat Society. — March 14th, 1892.—Rev. 
C. F. Thornewill in the chair. Mr. R. C. Bradlev showed several species 
of Culex, taken at Sutton. Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker, a boxful of Scoparia, 
from St. Helena, which differed from all other Scoparia in the possession 
of deenly serrated antenne, some of the specimens being almost black. 
Mr. Baker said that, even from the mainland of Africa nearest to 
St. Helena, he knew of no Scoparie with the same characteristics. Mr. 
G. H. Kenrick read a paper, “‘ Some considerations on Insects confined to 
small areas.” He touched chiefly upon self-evident causes of localisation, 
mountain-chains, &e., and then entered more fully into the causes of the 
presence on our coast-lines, in the fens, woods, &c., of many species only 
found in those restricted distriéts in our country, though found in similar 
ones on the Continent: he remarked that it was strange to find so many 
species restricted to so small an area as our fens, for example, and showed 
that those fens represent a very wide extent of country, all fen, extending 
over the German Sea, to and including Holland, and of which our Lincoln- 
shire and Norfolk fens, and those in Holland, are all that is left: the insects 
inhabiting this wide extent of country are now, to a considerable extent, 
crowded into the few surviving spots, and hence we get many peculiar 
species in a small area; he believed the same applied to coast species, our 
coast-lines having once formed a part of a very much more extended conti- 
nental coast-line ; and to wood species, our woods being the remains of former 
extensive forests, &c. He concluded by pointing out many much more 
complicated questions of distribution and localisation, of which he could 
offer only slight explanations, and which, he said, opened out a wide and 
interesting field of study. A discussion followed, in which the Rev. C. F. 
Thornewill, and Messrs. G. T. Bethune-Baker, R. C. Bradley, and C. J. 
Wainwright joined.—Corpran J. Watnwetaut, Hon. Sec. 
OBITUARY. 
With great regret we have to announce the death of Francis ARCHER, 
who died Feb. 29th, 1892, after a week’s illness, of diphtheria, at his 
residence, 21, Mulgrave Street, Liverpool, aged 52. He was the son of 
the late Francis Archer, M.R.C.S., a well-known medical practitioner in 
Liverpool, who was also a naturalist, his speciality being Conchology. 
Mr. Archer, who held a leading position in his profession, that of a solicitor 
in Liverpool, was a man of high cultnre and most genial disposition, an 
ardent politician, and a born naturalist. He was among the first to appre- 
ciate the late Mr. Darwin’s views on the ‘ Origin of Species,’ &c. He 
possessed a very practical knowledge of Couchology and Entomology, and 
was always ready to assist and encourage young people in their scientific 
and natural-history investigations. He was one of the original members 
of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society, in which he always 
took a deep interest, and he was elected a Fellow of the London Ent. Soc. 
in 1886. Those who knew him intimately will mourn a kind congenial 
friend, whilst Science has one less ardent follower in Liverpool. 
