THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 229 
such plants as occur are not, so far as Dr. Spruce has 
observed, aromatic; and, as plants in such situations can 
hardly depend on insect visits for their fertilisation, the fact 
is comparable with that of the flora of New Zealand, and 
would seem to imply some relation between the two 
phenomena, though what it exactly is cannot yet be 
determined. 
I trust [ have now been able to show you that there are 
a number of curious problems, lying as it were on the 
outskirts of biological inquiry, which well merit attention, 
and which may lead to valuable results. But these problems 
are, as you see, for the most part connected with questions of 
locality, and require full and accurate knowledge of the 
productions of a number of small islands and other limited 
areas, and the means of comparing them the one with the 
other. To make such comparisons is, however, now quite 
impossible. No museum contains any fair representation of 
the productions of these localities; and such specimens as 
do exist, being scattered through the general collection, are 
almost useless for this special purpose. If, then, we are to 
make any progress in this inquiry, it is absolutely essential 
that some collectors should begin to arrange their cabinets 
primarily on a geographical basis, keeping together the 
productions of every island or group of islands, and of such 
divisions of each continent as are found to possess any 
special or characteristic fauna or flora. We shall then be 
sure to detect many unsuspected relations between the 
animals and plants of certain localities; and we shall become 
much better acquainted with those complex reactions 
between the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and between 
the organic world and the inorganic, which have almost 
certainly played an important part in determining many 
of the most conspicuous features of living things. 
ALFRED RussEL WALLACE. 
Entomological Noles, Captures, §c. 
Vanessa Antiopa at Lea Bridge Marshes.—I had the good 
fortune to capture a splendid female specimen of V. Antiopa 
on the 27th August; it appeared as though only just emerged 
from pupa. It was on a willow tree, sucking the sugar left 
