78 Miscellaneous. 



more than a centurj'. It is said to have first occurred near Rome, 

 and thence to have spread through the whole of Italy, and lastly into 

 France. It every year makes fresh progress, and no means have yet 

 been found to arrest it. 



The Italians are not agreed as to whether this disease be a special 

 malady, or merely the result of the attacks of Coccidce. The author 

 supports the latter opinion, stating that the disease never occurs 

 except upon trees attacked by those insects. 



Of these he saj'^s that the Coccus adomdum, a native of Senegal, 

 attacks especially the citron and lemon trees ; the Coccus hesperiduwi, 

 a native of America and Africa, prefers the orange, rose-bay and 

 peach trees ; the Coccus aonidum, native of the Indian Archipelago, 

 attacks the Lam-aceous trees ; the Coccus olea commits the greatest 

 ravages upon the olive-trees, but also attacks the oranges and a number 

 of other trees ; it is the most destructive of all. 



Rich, moist, well-cultivated localities are most favourable to the 

 development of these insects, and it is in these that they commit the 

 greatest ravages. — Comptes Rendus, 2 Aout, 1852, p. 183. 



OBITUARY. JAMES FRANCIS STEPHENS. 



James Francis Stephens, F.L.S., late President of the Entomolo- 

 gical Society, &c., died on the 22nd of December, at his house in 

 Foxley Road, Kennington, of inflammation of the lungs. 



Mr. Stephens was in his 61st year, having been born at Shoreham 

 on the IGth of September, 1792 ; he was the sou of a naval officer. 

 He has left a widow to deplore her loss, his only child, a son, having 

 died some years ago. 



Mr. Stephens was the author of the ' Systematic Catalogue of Bri- 

 tish Insects,' the ' Illustrations of British Entomology,' ' Manual of 

 British Coleoptera,' of a ' Catalogue of the British Lepidoptera in the 

 Collection of the British Museum,' and editor of the latter volumes 

 of 'Shaw's General Zoology' containing the Buds. 



Mr. Stephens was a clerk in the Admiralty, but lately retired 

 on a superannuation. Early in life he paid considerable attention to 

 electricity and meteorology ; but for the greater part of the last half- 

 century he devoted the whole of his leisure to the study of the natural 

 history of the British Islands, and had formed the most complete and 

 best arranged collection of the insects of this country that had ever 

 been brought together. This collection and his extensive library of 

 entomological works he, in the most liberal manner, opened to the 

 inspection of any students who wished to consult it for scientific pur- 

 poses, on every Wednesday in the year ; hence most of the cabinets 

 in the country are named in conformity with it. In 1839 his Col- 

 lection of British Insects consisted of 12,449 species and 88,132 spe- 

 cimens contained in 193 drawers, and it has been very much increased 

 since that period. 



In 1818 he assisted Dr. Leach to form and arrange the Collection 

 of Insects in the British Museum, permission ha-sdng been obtained 

 from the Lords of the Treasury that he might be temporarily absent 

 from liis office for the purpose. 



