278 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Archipelago. The method of this immigratiou seemed doubtful. Mr. 

 Meyrick was of opinion that the insects flew very long distances, and 

 effected a settlement through their food-plants being widely distributed and 

 common. He instanced the undoubted immigration of certain Australian 

 species into New Zealand, a distance of 1200 miles. Mr. Stainton adduced 

 the instance of Margarodes unionalis, which is a South-European insect, 

 feeding on the olive, yet is occasionally found in Britain. 



Mr. Meyrick exhibited, in connection with his papers, Oxychirota 

 paradoxa, Meyr. (unique specimen representing the family Oxychirotidse), 

 Epharpastis dccdala, Meyr., and Mixophijla erminea, Moore. 



Mr. Meyrick also made some observations on the distribution of the 

 insect fauna in the various regions of Australia ; he said that it appeared to 

 be more or less different in certain defined portions of the continent, which 

 might be roughly regarded as oases in the midst of desert districts : all his 

 observations, however, had tended to upset Mr. Wallace's theory that 

 Eastern and Western Australia were originally separated, as the gradations 

 in the insect fauna from east to west were quite gradual; in Western 

 Australia the Tineina were the only group well represented by peculiar 

 endemic forms. 



Mr. Pascoe read a paper " On the genus Byrsops" a genus of Cur- 

 culionidse. 



The President announced that Lord Walsingham's collection of Lepi- 

 doptera and larvae, recently presented to the nation, would be exhibited in 

 the Hall at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, until the end 

 of June.— W. W. F. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



A Nomenclature of Colours for Naturalists, and Compendium of 

 Useful Knoioledge for Ornithologists. By Egbert Ridgway, 

 Curator, Department of Birds, U. S. National Museum. 

 8vo, pp. 130, with ten coloured plates and seven plates of 

 outline illustrations. Boston, U. S. 



Some five years ago the present writer, in advocating the 

 desirability of adopting a standard of nomenclature for the 

 description of the colours of natural objects, remarked :* — 



" In the Animal Kingdom the number of colours is very 

 great. They often form the most striking feature in the external 

 appearance of species, and hence have been considered by 



* Proc. Zool. Sec. 1882, p. 391. 



