322 THE ENTOMOLOGiSt. ' ' 



will only, however, refer to Lampronia capitella, which is placed 

 (with oehlmanniella) at the commencement of Tinea, witli arcuatella, 

 cloacclla, pellonella, and other true Tinese, and separated irom 

 Lampronia by half a dozen genera of the hiselUella, tapetzella, and 

 ochraceella groups. There is no more natural generic group than 

 the Lampronias, of which we are acquainted with the early stages 

 of quadripunctella, and have bred ruhiella and capitella from the 

 egg. The generic characters given for Lampronia and Tinea are 

 absolutely identical, but we fancy there is a misprint, as Tinea is 

 said to have seven to costa in the diagnosis, but in the table it is 

 given seven to termen. If this is the character which separates 

 them, then we can only say, that the results it leads to prove, 

 not that capitella is a Tinea, but that the character that would 

 make it one is actually, and probably essentiallj', a wholly un- 

 trustworthy one. 



We are not so sure about anything as our author appears to 

 be about everything, and there are limits to our space, or we 

 should state our reasons for disagreeing with the position, 

 amongst others, of Arctiids; still more of Pteropliorus and Sesia. 

 We say "appears," because no doubt much of the dogmatic 

 cocksureness, that ruffles one a little sometimes, is due to the 

 definiteness and brevity that we have found so highly to be 

 praised from several practical points of view. 



There are several things that are contrary to tradition that 

 are undoubtedly sound, such as placing BrejJhos and Thyatira 

 with the Geometrse, Cossus and Exapate in the Tortricina &c. 



Excellent as the book is, and most useful as we expect it to 

 be, the predominance of a Linnean character in the arrange- 

 ment is what most impresses us. No doubt this will be most 

 useful to our younger students, as a stimulus to them to labour 

 to set it right. TAP 



ON THE VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

 RHOPALOCERA IN THE ALPS. 



By W. Harcourt-Bath. 



Contrary to that which is the case in this country, in the 

 Alps Rhopalocera permanently reside at all altitudes upon the 

 mountains as far as the upper limits of phanerogamic vegetation. 

 The causes of this are not far to seek. In the former area the 

 elevations which are of any considerable altitude are isolated and 

 detached, and only contain a small extent of surfaces belonging 

 to the upper zones; moreover, the vegetation is comparatively 

 poor in species. The climatal conditions also which prevail are 

 very unfavourable to Rhopalocera, consisting of excessive pre- 

 cipitation and insufficient sunshine, though, even if this were 

 reversed, the non-presence of surrounding higher peaks, which 



