136 THE entomologist's record. 



behaviour of the creatures in relation to cultivated plants may give the 

 naturalist an opportunity of noticing change of habit on a large scale 

 — a fascinating line of enquiry from the biological point of view. In the 

 case of one springtail, at any rate, such a change of habit has been 

 certainly observed. Tobacco is a newly introduced crop in Ireland, 

 raised entirely from seed. In April, 1907, tobacco seedlings were 

 found to be covered with multitudes of dark greyish springtails, Isotoma 

 tenella, a species hitherto unrecognised in the British Islands. There 

 can be no doubt that this scarce insect had suddenly increased in 

 numbers through the introduction of a new crop which happened to 

 afford a large and suitable food- supply." 



Three further contributions from the Proceedings of the JJnited 

 States Museum are (1) " New Species of Fossil beetles from Florissant, 

 Colorado," by H. F. Wickham ; (2) "New Tertiary Insects," by T. D. 

 A. Cockerell, including Diptera and Hymenoptera, some also from the 

 now famous Florissant beds ; and (3) "A Monograph of the Nearctic 

 Hymenoptera of the Genus Bracon, Fabricius," by H. Morrison. Ail 

 three articles have plates illustrative of structural details. 



The Canadian Entomologist for April contains an article of more 

 than ordinary interest on " Insect Drift of Lake Shores," by J. G. 

 Needham. It consists of an account of all the insects indentified by 

 the writer during a prolonged stay on the shores of Lake Michigan, 

 with careful notes on the various and varying conditions of his 

 observations. In Coleoptera 26 families and 127 species were 

 represented; Hemiptera, 9 families and 20 species; many Hymenoptera, 

 Diptera and Lepidoptera too dilapidated for identification ; a few 

 Neuroptera, Odonata and Orthoptera ; while Trichoptera and Epheme- 

 ridae were largely represented by pupal and nymphal skins. 



In the Ent. Mo. Mag. for April Mr. G. T. Porritt introduced a new 

 and beautiful form of Abraxas grossulariata, which he names 

 albovarleyata, since it is a derivative aberration of the well-known form 

 varleyata, in the pale direction. The hindwings are white except the 

 veins, a series of four interneural marginal spots, and a few freckles, of 

 intense black. The forewings have large oblong-square white spots on 

 the outer margin and a few other white features on costa and disc. 



Those who "want catalogues of all natural history sales must, 

 under present regulations, apply for them by post-card to Messrs. 

 Stevens. 



A large portion of the collection of Lepidoptera of the late Mr. A. 

 E. Gibbs, of St. Albans, will be disposed of on June 26th, together 

 with his valuable and extensive library of entomological, bo^nical and 

 natural history books. Probably for labels verj^ few collections are 

 more adequately furnished ; this is especially so with the insects sent 

 home by his own collectors in Central and S. America. These speci- 

 mens are all labelled with locality, date, height above sea, and collectors 

 name clearly printed. 



Two further papers reprinted from the Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. h&\e 

 reached us. (1) " Descriptions of new Lepidoptera from Mexico," by 

 Harrison G. Dyar, in which the writer describes 111 new species, 3 

 new sub-species, with 7 new genera from material mainly collected by 

 Messrs. K. Miiller and Wm. Schaus. Scarcely a single species has 

 anything more than a bald description without in most eases even the 

 gimplegt of comparisons! with other species j» its genus, and biological 



