OBITUARY. 323 



Transactions of the City of London Entomological and Natural History 

 Society for the year 1899. Pp. 80. Published by the Society at 

 the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, E.G. 1900. 



The entomological papers in this volume are as follows : — "Notes on 

 Spilosoma lubricipeda," by A. W. Mera, pp. 29-32 ; " The Life-history 

 of Oporabia (Epirrita) autumnata, Bkh.," by Louis B. Prout, pp. 42-52 ; 

 "Notes on Eupithecia coronata, Hiibn.," by L. B. Prout, pp. 52-54; 

 "Variation in the broods of Axylia putris, Cucullia umbratica, Spilosoma 

 urticcR, and Malacosoma castreiisis," by A. Bacot, pp. 54-58 ; " Some 

 Marsh Beetles of the Lea Valley," by F. B. Jennings, pp. 59-65. 

 Mr. Prout also contributes another instalment of the list of " Lepido- 

 ptera of the London District " (pp. 66-80), which had been commenced 

 in this Society's ' Transactions ' for 1898. The number of species 

 enumerated, so far, is 369. Among other interesting matters con- 

 tained in the "Reports of Meetings" (pp. 2-28), we note that, on 

 January 3rd, 1899, Dr. J. S. Sequeira exhibited a specimen of Catocala 

 elocata, "which had been recognised, by Mr. E. M. Dadd, in Dr. 

 Sequeira's series of British C. nupta. The Doctor said he had no 

 doubt that the specimen was set by himself, and that the insect was 

 taken unawares in these islands. This would be the first record of the 

 species in Britain." The latter remark is not correct, as this species 

 has been previously recorded as British : Curtis, very nearly eighty 

 years ago, figured, as a British insect, an example of C. elocata, which 

 was assumed to have been captured in this country. It was afterwards 

 discovered that this species had been received from Oporto by the 

 owner of the collection of British Lepidoptera in which it was detected. 



OBITUARY. 



Dr. Otto Staudinger. — We have received intimation of the death 

 of Dr. Staudinger, on Oct. 13tli last, at Lucerne, in his seventy-first 

 year. He was incontestably one of the best known continental lepi- 

 dopterists, and, since the death of Herrich-S chaffer, the leading 

 German authority on Palsearctic Lepidoptera. His inaugural disserta- 

 tion, ' De Sesiis agri Berolinensis,' which appears to have been also 

 his first published work, is a quarto tract of sixty-six pages, with two 

 plates, published at Berlin in 1854. Subsequently he travelled in 

 Iceland, Norway, Sardinia, and Spain, and the results of his captures 

 were published in the ' Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung ' by himself 

 and others. The most important of these early journeys was that 

 which he undertook to Iceland, an interesting account of which was 

 published in S. E. Z. for 1857. 



In 1861 appeared the first of the great works which have made his 

 name famous — the first edition of the ' Catalog der Lepidopteren 

 Europas und der angrauzenden Lander. I. Macrolepidoptera, bear- 

 beitet von Dr. 0. Staudinger. II. Microlepidoptera, bearbeitet von 

 Dr. M. Wocke.' This was in double columns, and resembles in form 

 Heydenreich's ' Systematisches Verzeichniss der europaischen Schmet- 

 terlinge,' the third and last edition of which appeared at Leipzig 

 in 1851. The second revised and enlarged edition of Staudinger's 



