OCT 4 1900 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 



Vol. XII. No. 9. September 15th, 1900. 



The Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society: Garden 

 Party [idth platv). 



On Saturday, June 23rd, Mr. S. J. Capper, F.L.S., F.E.S., gave a 

 garden party to the members of the Lancashire and Cheshire 

 Entomological Society and other entomological friends, at his residence, 

 Huyton Park, Liverpool. There was a large gathering, and the visitors 

 fully appreciated the kindness of their host. Ever since the founda- 

 tion of the Society, now tAventy-three years ago, Mr. Capper has been 

 the President, and has been associated with men whose names stand 

 high in the elucidation of our insular insect fauna. All the older 

 lepidopterists know of the keen rivalry that existed between the 

 Lancashire and southern collectors, and are also well aware how well 

 the northern men held their own in field work, especially in the 

 working out of the life-histories of the Micro-Lepidoptera, whilst the 

 younger entomologists have also been well to the fore, as the lists for 

 the county, compiled by Dr. Ellis, fully show. Just how much of the 

 excellent results shown by the Lancashire lepidopterists is due to Mr. 

 Capper it would be difficult to say, but year after year he has, by 

 sympathetic help, by kind instruction, and by a liberal generosity, 

 aided all the recruits Avho have joined the ranks of the Society, and his 

 large collection, probably unequalled in the northern . counties for its 

 richness in bizarre aberrations and local forms and races, has been at 

 the service of all who wished to consult its contents. His educational 

 collections are also widely known, and the young (and old) entomologists 

 of Lancashire and Cheshire have always found in Mr. Capper a generous 

 helper and friend. We understand that at the present time Mr. Mosley 

 is engaged in painting the best marked aberrations in the collection, 

 and that some 400 have already been done, but we do not know yet how 

 these are to be published so that they may be of general value to 

 science, and so that the students of variation may be able to gain the 

 greatest possible good from the specimens thus reproduced from this 

 collection. One could wish that wealthy amateurs like Mr. Capper, 

 Mr. Webb, &c., would publish figures of the best aberrations in their 

 collections for general use. Perhaps photography will enable them to 

 do this cheaply ere long. 



A glance at our photograph will show the strength of the 

 Lancashire and Cheshire entomologists. A society that contains names 

 like those of Dr. Ellis, the compiler of the Lancashire and Cheshire 

 lists of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, Mr. R. Newstead, one of the first 



