160 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



conditions which were unfavourable to insect life. The only species 

 which had been added to the county list of Lepidoptera was Hyjienodes 

 costcBstrigalis, taken at Ashridge on July 24th and August 22nd by 

 Mr. A. T. Goodson, of Tring. Mr. Gibbs referred to the comparative 

 abundance in his garden of Agrotis saucia, an insect of which he had not 

 previously taken more than one or two specimens in a season. He ob- 

 tained ova and fed up fifty-one larvae in a warm kitchen, forty-four moths 

 emerging between March 4th and 11th of the present year. These in turn 

 gave a few ova, which were successfully photographed by Mr. A. E. 

 Tonge, F.E.S., of Eeigate. Eeports of work done and observations 

 made during the season were received from Miss Alice Dickinson, 

 New Green's Farm, St. Albans, Mr. P. J. Barraud, F.E.S., of Bushey 

 Heath, Mr. A. H. Foster, of Hitchin, Mr. J. E. Perrott, of Watford, 

 and Mr. A. T. Goodson, of Tring. — A. E. Gibbs, Hon. Sec. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



A Guide to the Exhibited Series of Insects. 



Apart from the huge collection of insects housed in the basement 

 of the Nation's Natural History Museum at South Kensington, there 

 is, in one of the galleries on the main floor, a series of twenty-eight 

 table cases arranged over the central area, three or four cabinets 

 along the borders, and an assortment of cases on the walls. Two of 

 the table cases contain material illustrative of Structure and Classifi- 

 cation of Insects, and in the others are shown specimens belonging 

 to the nine Orders of Insects, here arranged in the following se- 

 quence: — Aptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, 

 Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Rhynchota. In two of the 

 cabinets are perfect insects and caterpillars of British Lepidoptera, 

 and British and Foreign insects are in the others. 



Furnished with a copy of this excellent illustrated guide of some 

 sixty pages, the visitor will find examination of the various objects 

 invested with an interest which might be lacking without such a 

 handy instructor. 



A Natural History of the British Butterflies. 



In the last volume of the 'Entomologist,' p. 256, the first eleven 

 parts of volume ii. of this elaborate work by Mr. J. W. Tutt were 

 referred to. Parts xii.-xxi. of the same volume are now to hand. 

 There are one hundred and fifty-three pages of text, of which thirty-two 

 are introductory, twenty plates, and explanations thereof on separate 

 pages. The subject-matter comprises Buralis [Zephyrus) betulcB, pp. 

 296-320; Tribe Lampididi, Genus Lampides, Hiibn., pp. 329-331 ; 

 Tribe Celastrinidi, Genus Celastrina, Tutt, pp. 332-386; G. argiolus, 

 L., pp. 387-416 (part). One of the plates gives photographic figures 

 of the butterflies L. hceticus and G. argiolus, and the others show life- 

 histories and structural details of larvae and pupae ; all the latter are 

 greatly enlarged. The parts, which are issued monthly, are published 

 by Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, E.C. 



