2. p. 



r OF 



OBITUARY. 103 



entomology to the last year of the French Entomological Society's 

 publications^M. Oberthiir limits his localities almost exclusively to 

 those with which he is himself familiar, or those investigated by his 

 distinguished brother, M. Rene Oberthiir, and the several friends and 

 professional collectors whose captures adorn his collection, and whose 

 identifications are above the suspicion not seldom inspired by the pub- 

 lished lists of our own as well as of French writers. Thus avoiding 

 needless repetition of descriptive matter in dealing with the typical 

 insect, M. Oberthiir devotes the greater part of each notice to dis- 

 cussing local races, varieties, and aberrations, in many instances 

 reproduced with exquisite fidelity in the accompanying coloured 

 plates. Of these, perhaps the most successful are those depicting 

 the variation of Satyr us fauna, Sulz. (= statilinus, Hufn.), from 

 France and other countries, with its near allies in Algeria ; the two 

 devoted to aberrations of Papilionidae ; and, best of all, the fine 

 representation of ten forms of Melitaa didyma — decidedly the least 

 convincing of " British " butterflies ! Forms of the Zygaenidae also 

 figure largely, and, as with the Lycsenid plates, we can only hope that 

 the blues and reds of modern "process" will wear better than 

 those employed by the hand-painters whose often magnificent work, 

 so far as the pigments are concerned, has not survived the ordeal of 

 time. Lastly, we are certain that the issue of this section of the 

 " liitudes," when complete as regards the French and Algerian butter- 

 flies, is sure to receive in book-form a warm welcome from the growing 

 number of students of Palaearctic Lepidoptera on this side of the 

 Channel. H E -B 



OBITUARY. 



Edward Saunders, F.E.S., F.L.S., F.E.S. — We sincerely regret 

 to hear of the death, on February 6th last, of this eminent entomolo- 

 gist. Although he wrote upon Buprestidee and described many new 

 species in this family of the Coleoptera, he was more widely and 

 better known as an authority on Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. 



In the first volume of the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ' 

 (1864) there is a note from his pen on Coleoptera near Lowestoft 

 (p. 75) ; and in 1880 he, together with the late Mr. C. G. Barrett, 

 joined the editorial association of that magazine. 



Among his separate publications are : — ' A Synopsis of British 

 Hemiptera-Heteroptera ' (1876) ; ' Catalogue of British Hemiptera- 

 Heteroptera ' (1876 and 1890) ; ' Catalogue of British Hymenoptera ' 

 (1890) ; 'Hemiptera-Heteroptera of the British Islands,' with thirty- 

 two coloured plates (1892) ; Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British 

 Islands,' with forty-nine coloured plates (1896) ; and ' Wild Bees, 

 Wasps, and Ants,' with four coloured plates. 



With very great regret we have to record the death, on February 

 8th last, of Mr. Harry McArthur, aged 54 years. 



He was the son of the late Mr. Niel McArthur who during the 

 greater portion of a long life had, in his spare time, been a collector 



