76 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



themselves the progeny of varleyata and type. — Mr. V. E. Shaw, 

 Melanippe fluctuata with the central band carried uniformly across 

 the whole width of the upper wings, Bexley, 1908. — Mr. H. B. 

 Williams, a gynandromorphous Bupalus piniaria with right-hand 

 wings and antenna male, and left-hand wings and antenna female. — 

 S. J. Bell, Hoji. Sec. 



The Manchester Entomological Society. — Fehniary Srd, 

 1909.— Mr. C. F. Johnson, F.E.S., President, in the chair.— The 

 President referred to the great loss the Society had sustained through 

 the death of Mr, L. Krah, who was a most successful collector and 

 breeder of European moths, especially Noctuae. — Mr. W. Mans- 

 bridge, F.E.S., read a paper — " Notes on Gnophos ohscuraria," illus- 

 trated by specimens from various localities, showing the great range 

 of colour, practically from black to white. He referred particularly 

 to the white forms calceata and mundata from Lewes, and expressed 

 the opinion that the latter would soon become extinct. — Mr. B. H. 

 Crabtree, F.E.S., showed a fine banded form (fasciata) from Folke- 

 stone. — Mr. A. H. Davison exhibited a specimen of P. ridens, bred 

 from a pupa taken at Timperley, Cheshire, the first record for the 

 county. — Mr. A. J. Wilson, several species of Coleoptera and stick- 

 insects from the East, and Mr. A. Wright, Micro-Lepidoptera from 

 the Burnley District and from Silver.dale. — ^ . W. Boyd, Hon. Sec. 



EECENT LITERATUEE. 



A Natural History of the British Butterflies, their World-wide Varia- 

 tion and Geographical Distribution. A Text-booh for Students 

 and Collectors. By J. W. Tutt, F.E.S. Vol. ii. London : 

 Elliot Stock. 1908. 



"Popular" books upon " British Butterflies," turned out from 

 the press at frequent intervals, with one or two notable exceptions, 

 continue to repeat the errors of their predecessors, being no more 

 than compilations, and destitute of original observations in any form 

 or shape. Mr. Tutt, at all events, leaves no excuse for this particular 

 class of vicarious writing and its worst absurdities, while the resump- 

 tion of his ' Natural History of British Butterflies ' will be welcomed 

 by all who are able to appreciate the value of a comprehensive work 

 upon a subject which has hitherto been treated by too many writers 

 in a purely imitative spirit. The completion of the second volume, 

 also, must have given food for reflection to a great many entomolo- 

 gists who have been put in possession, probably for the first time, of 

 the real facts connected with the life-histories of the species enume- 

 rated. To none of us, perhaps, would it have seemed possible to 

 collect and fill four hundred closely printed pages of demy octavo 

 with details of our five "Hairstreaks," and a single "Blue," their 

 varieties, aberrations, and congeners, and this chiefly the harvest of 

 original observation. But this is what Mr. Tutt has done for us, to 

 say nothing of the chapters devoted to hybernation and aestivation, 



