NOTES ON COLLECTING. 85 



who occasionally hunt on the Continent, so beyond noting that the 

 larva feeds on Euphorbia (jerardiana, and other Euphorbias, we may 

 leave further of the interesting details to be gathered from M, Chretien's 

 paper, which is illustrated by four plates accompanying the text. The 

 Gueneean revision occupies the next 108 pp. In this we note a refe- 

 rence or two to Barrett, but for the most part this important section of 

 the Fascicule has little reference to Britain. M. Oberthlir again points 

 out very cogently the frequent unintelligibility of descriptions, which 

 are quite worthless when the " types " are inaccessible or destroyed, 

 and only place obstacles in the way of real progress. Descriptions (and 

 figures in the plates) of various new and of previously unfigured species 

 are given of Geometers from Algeria, Syria, and especially from the 

 portion of China fronting Thibet. There are some observations on the 

 circumstance that various figures by the old masters, Cramer, Stoll, 

 Drury, Hiibner, etc., do not quite agree with any known species; it is 

 suggested that there are nevertheless such species, that the ancient 

 authors are correct, and that the doubtful figures are not bad figures of 

 known species. In illustration M. Oberthlir recalls a circumstance, 

 that few now remain with any first hand memory of, that Papilio 

 antenor and P. antiinacliiia of Drury were held some fifty years ago as 

 doubtful entities, and that one specimen of the latter, the first recent 

 one, was obtained by Hewitson as the result of an expedition costing 

 him about £100. 



The next paper continues the account of the Lepidoptera of Bar- 

 bary. This runs to some 250 pp., and consists largely of Mr. H. 

 Powell's observations in Algeria, all of which is of great interest, giving 

 habits and life-histories of many species, but not lending itself to any 

 abbreviation. Sphingid^e, ZYGiENiD^, HeTEROGYNiDiE, Lymacodid.e, 

 NoTODONTiD^, LiPAEiDJE, with niuch detail on Orgyia, Lasiocampid^e, 

 with details and life-history of Chondrostega, Lemoniid^, with details of 

 early stages, life-history of L. rallanthii, Saturniid^. DREPANiDiE and 

 Megalopygid^, in which many points are dealt with by Mr. Powell 

 about the genus Soinabrachyii, of which he has made so exhaustive a 

 study of many species ; this runs to about 50 pp. After several short 

 papers there follows, " Considerations on several species of Lycaena," 

 dealing chiefly with those inhabiting Brittany, the neighbourhood of 

 Eennes, of which the photographs already referred to form illustrations, 

 and some of the local conditions are described. Pleheius aryus {aryy- 

 roynonion) is very fully described, Lycaena alcon is also noticed, and 

 L. avion is dealt with, with transcript of papers from the Trans. Knt. 

 Soc. Land., 1915. One notes with pleasure that M. Oberthlir and Mr. 

 Powell intend next summer to study various phases of the Symbiosis 

 of ants and Lycaena larvfe, in that rich Armorican counitry. M. 

 Oberthlir concludes with some observations on several puzzling ques- 

 tions as to species and their evolution. 



:ig^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Dates of Appearance. — It would be very useful to obtain during 

 the season, times of the first appearance of the butterflies, and I would 

 be very glad to correspond with any collectors and exchange dates of 

 emergence of the various species, as met with, in various counties. 

 So often a journey is made, only to find the particular insect either 



