21 



1894- I'he only other British example was a single Specinlerl 

 understood to have been taken by one of Mr. Meek's col- 

 lectors at Rannoch in 1871, and which was sold at Mr. 

 Philip Harper's sale for £14. The insect is stated to be 

 found on the Continent only in Lapland and the Upper 

 Engadine, and is supposed to be an alpine and boreal form 

 of N. ponionaria. 



Xanthia ocellaris has been recorded in considerable varia- 

 tion from many localities: Mr. C. G. Barrett from near 

 Wimbledon in October, 1894; Mr, W. H. B. Fletcher at 

 Bognor ; the Rev. J. H. Hocking at sugar and also at light 

 on September 7th and 17th, and at Copdock Rectory, Ips- 

 wich ; and elsewhere. 



Xylina zinckenii was taken by Mr. Hocking at sugar at 

 6.45 p.m. at Ipswich on September 30th. 



Plima moneta has also been again recorded from man}^ 

 localities — Bromley, Reading, Tunbridge Wells, Norwich, 

 &c., &c. 



Catocala fraxini, taken in a house at Clive Vale, Hast- 

 ings, by Mr. Langdon on September 25th, and also at 

 Farnborough, Kent, by Mr. Hope Alderson on August 

 23rd. 



Calliinorpha hera has been bred in large numbers, and will 

 soon cease to be a rarity. Pachetra leucophcea, Nona^ria 

 canncB, Viuiinia albovenosa, and Agrotis cinerea have all been 

 fairly common, whilst Lyccena avion, as a British insect, has 

 taken one more step towards extinction. 



There has been no falling off in either the quantity or 

 quality of the literature relating to natural history published 

 during the year. It is impossible for me to do more than 

 call your attention to a few of the more prominent contribu- 

 tions. Possibly THE book of the year is Mr. Edward 

 Meyrick's " Handbook of British Lepidoptera ;" the more 

 one studies .it— as study it every entomologist must — the 

 more one gets bewildered in the multitudinous and radical 

 changes it presents. Whilst giving every praise to the 

 learned author for his ingenious argument and undoubted 

 original work, I think every entomologist feels that the 

 author is relying too much on a single character for his 

 classification, and that, as the Editor of the " Record " 

 remarks, the lines on which a new scheme of classification 

 wants formulating must be compounded of the work done 

 by specialists in various lines of work rather than on any 

 one special path to the neglect of the others. 



Dealing wholly or in part with classification, we find Pro- 



