1888.] 113 



a suitable spot, and the food-plant growing, I rarely failed to find the larva. 

 Evidently, it preferred Galium verum, although a few were taken on G. mollugo. 

 They were wonderfully variable, two of them absolutely black, the yellow spots being 

 absent, also several varieties not figured in Buckler's larva?. When full-fed they are 

 very fond of basking in the sun, on bare patches of sand, when the yellow-drab 

 ground-colour of the larva? harmonized well with the colour of the sand ; and after 

 feeding and basking, they bury themselves in the warm earth, possibly for protection, 

 as they do not pupate under ground. The year 1888 will doubtless be known as 

 the great galii year. It is truly remarkable, and a curious problem too, as to what 

 causes may have contributed to this wonderful influx of an insect like galii, usually 

 so rare in England. 



During my trip, I met with the usual autumn Lepidoptera ; of Colias Edusa a 

 few only were seen, and no rarity was captured. 



The larva? of Chwrocampa porcellus and elpenor were fairly common, whilst 

 Macroglossa stellatarum were comparatively rare. — W. H. Tugwell, 6, Lewisham 

 Eoad, S.E. : September 20th, 1888. 



Vanessa Antiopa in Kent. — On August 22nd I received a letter from my friend, 

 Mr. J. Wood, of Chatham, written the day previous, stating, " To our great surprise 

 this morning we saw a Camberwell Beauty in the garden feeding on an over-ripe 

 gooseberry which had fallen from the bush. We watched it for some time, it looked 

 so beautiful ; it flew up and actually settled on me, and then on my sister." Upon 

 receiving this news, and knowing the habit the Vanessidce have of returning day 

 after day to sweets, I arrived at my friend's house about mid-day, and was glad to 

 hear it had again been feeding upon the gooseberry that morning, and I had the 

 fortune to secure it while settled on a gravel walk. It is a fine specimen, 3 T 3 ^ inches 

 in expanse, and very richly coloured, the margins are of a straw-yellow colour ; with 

 the exception of the margins being slightly chipped, it apparently was freshly 

 emerged. — E. W. Fbohawk, Balham, S.W. : August, 1888. 



(Bbituarg. 



Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S. — This well-known naturalist died at St. Mary- 

 church, Torquay, on the 23rd of August, in the 79th year of his age. Although 

 the majority of his scientific works were on Marine Zoology, yet Entomology seems 

 always to have had attractions for him.' In his early life he collected insects in 

 Newfoundland, Canada, the United States, and Jamaica, and, after his return to 

 England, he published notes of his captures and discoveries in the " Entomologist," 

 under 'the title of " The Canadian Naturalist," the " Zoologist," and the "Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History." When settled in England, he occupied himself 

 chiefly with his marine pursuits, but later on in his life he again took up Entomology 

 specially, and in 1883 contributed an important paper to the " Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society," 2nd Ser. Zool., vol. ii, pt. 6, " On the clasping organs ancillary 

 to generation in certain groups of the Lepidoptera." This treats of these organs 

 in Ornithoptera and Papilio, and is illustrated by several plates of well executed, 

 enlarged figures of the armature of many of the species. All Entomologists must 

 be glad to see the tendency among Lepidopterists of late years to place special value 

 on structural characters, and to recognise this work of Mr. Gosse as a valuable 



