802 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
OBITUARY. 
ReaADERs of the ‘ Entomologist’ will join in the great regret that: 
all who knew him will feel in the passing away of Francis George- 
Whittle, which took place on October 26th. 
His end was tragic, but it was one which probably he—and for 
the matter of that many of us—would wish for, without pain, and 
apparently without premonition. He had taken his usual daily 
stroll along the sea front near his residence at Southend-on-Sea, with 
his fox terrier, to which he was much attached, and was found on a 
seat quite dead, the cause was heart failure. His faithful companion 
guarded all that remained of him, and it was an hour before the 
police could overcome its resistance. He had visited his friend the 
Rey. C. R. N. Burrows two days before his death, and was then 
apparently in his usual health and spirits. 
Mr. Whittle was born at Highbury on August 31st, 1854, and. 
would thus be in the sixty-eighth year of his age. For many years 
he occupied an important position in the Joint Stock Bank, retiring 
on a pension in 1913. Shortly after his retirement he went for a 
tour round the world, and was in Australia when the Great War 
broke out. His journey home was an exciting one, for the “Emden” 
was about, and the vessel he travelled in had to cross the zone of 
her activities ; fortunately for him the German raider was avoided. 
The subject of this notice was essentially a field naturalist, and 
few knew the habits and life-history of British Lepidoptera better, 
especially those of the Tineina, in which he specialised. From his. 
long residence at Southend he probably knew more than anyone the 
many interesting species of Micro-lepidoptera frequenting the 
Thames marshes. One of his specialities was the extremely 
interesting psychid Whittleza retella, of which he practically worked 
out the life-history. The generic name given by the late J. W. Tutt. 
is, of course, in memory of him. Apart from his field work there are 
many notes in this and other magazines—principally accounts of his. 
excursions or captures. 
The summers of the last five or six years have been spent in the 
Scottish highlands, where he made many interesting captures, 
including a tortrix new to Britain Ancylis tineana, Hib. (see ‘ Entom.,’ 
vol. lili, p. 12). The way he ‘“‘stuck it” in those regions through the- 
most appalling weather, and with the most primitive conditions of 
food and accommodation, from March to October, was eminently 
characteristic of the patient, determined, good-tempered, kindly 
nature of the man. He was the writer’s companion for several happy 
and unforgettable weeks in West Sutherlandshire during the past. 
summer. 
Whittle was one of the most unassuming and diffident men. 
the writer ever met, but when one got within the skin of the outer 
reserve, there was no one more generous, genial, or kindly natured. 
The following little incident will illustrate these qualities. Some 
time back he paid a week-end visit, and in running through my 
collections we discussed two species, of neither of which I possessed 
type—Spilodes palealis, formerly met with in the Southend district, 
and the very difficult to obtain Catopiria numbana. Shortly after- 
