124 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



In passing, and as also bearing on this subject of mutual 

 support, I may add that I think we should, as an independent 

 organization, endorse the action taken by the Liverpool Biological 

 Society a few days since in its endeavours to obtain a more 

 thorough recognition of our local fauna in the approaching re- 

 arrangement of the Cit}'^ Museum With regard to our own 

 branch of natural history, the collection of insects in the past 

 can scarcely be said to have been in any way up to date, either 

 as representative of the district, or in the matter of classification 

 and nomenclature ; and the time would appear opportune, in 

 view of the additional appointments which at no distant date 

 will have to be made, for us as the recognised Entomological 

 Society of this part of South-west Lancashire to express the 

 hope that the Museums Committee may find it possible to add 

 an entomological expert to the already hard-worked staff of the 

 distinguished Director of our City Museums. 



"With regard to the second question, one cannot help feeling 

 that much good work is done by entomologists which is never 

 heard of outside the narrow confines of their several districts, 

 and except during seasons of abnormal appearance of certain 

 rarities, such as Mgialia rufa, Colias hyale, Deilephila galii, &c., 

 we hear nought of the locality to which they belong. Can it be 

 that during the intervening years nothing of general interest has 

 been learnt ; nothing observed which might prove of ultimate 

 value ? I cannot think this, but I do think that, owing to the 

 " splendid isolation " from which scientific societies, like our 

 great daily newspapers, sometimes affect to ignore one another's 

 existence, much important knowledge on lesser rarities is irre- 

 trievably lost. And, after all, it is Avith the lesa rare insects that 

 our country generally is most vitally concerned — pests like the 

 turnip beetle {Phi/llotreta nemorum, P. uudulata, &c), magpie and 

 codliu moths {Abraxas grossulariata and Carpocnjjsa ijomonella), 

 daddy longlegs {Tipida uleracea, T. maculosa), &c. Would it not 

 be possible for every natural history society, in addition to the 

 important local work in which thej^ are now mostly engaged, to 

 contribute yearly valuable information on many economic ques- 

 tions of general importance to the community, by forming a 

 small committee to receive and arrange the observations of its 

 members on their experiences during the year of any abnormal 

 variation in abundance of some of the commoner and more 

 injurious insects in their several branches of entomology, as well 

 as to tabulate any remarks they might make on the subject? 

 Any inquiry into the question of such variation prevailing during 

 a sequence of years would be of course of an exceedingly intricate 

 and complex nature ; and as it is probable that weather, and 

 especially temperature — as distinct from climate — acting either 

 directly at some critical epoch in the insect's life, or indirectly 

 through food-plants, &c., would be largely responsible for many 



