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ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Contributions towards a List of the Varieties of Nocture 

 occurring in the British Islands. — As these papers have become some- 

 what voluminous in character, we have decided to discontinue their publica- 

 tion in the ' Entomologist.' It is understood that the author, Mr. J. W. 

 Tutt, is making arrangements for the re-issue of the early papers, which, 

 together with others in continuation, will appear in book-form. For 

 further particulars apply to Mr. Tutt ; Westcombe Park, S.E. 



The late Mr. F. Bond. — To the list of notes on entomological subjects 

 by the late Mr. Bond, contained in the memoir of him (Entom. xxii. 265), 

 should, I think, be added that he contributed records of his captures in the 

 Cambridgeshire Fens to the entomological portion of « Fenland, Past and 

 Present' (a bulky volume published in 1878). When engaged in assisting 

 to get together the list of Lepidoptera captured in the district, and therein 

 contained, I visited Mr. Bond at Staines, and Mr. Dunning's charming 

 description of his visit might well apply to my own. But unfortunately 

 my object prevented but the most cursory glance at Mr. Bond's rich 

 collection of insects. He had written to me to come early, so I was at his 

 home by an early hour in the morning, and my visit lasted till past ten at 

 night, and has left a delightful memory of a kindly enthusiast, brimful of 

 practical knowledge. I took down with me an early proof of the list, and 

 we went through it seriatim, putting in Mr. Bond's localities and additional 

 species. What this indicates may be gleaned from the text of the work, 

 where it is stated that " upwards of fifty species, otherwise not recorded in 

 the district, and the greater portion of which have probably become 

 extinct," were then added by Mr. Bond, " besides much additional in- 

 formation as to other species." This information he gave almost entirely 

 from memory, interspersed with reminiscences of the circumstances 

 attending the capture of the species. He rarely referred to notes, 

 and when he did so, — generally as to a question of date, — it was to an 

 interleaved copy of Stainton's ' Manual,' which appeared to contain notes 

 and dates of most of his interesting captures. This copy must be very 

 valuable, and should not be lost sight of. When the additional matter was 

 in type I sent it to Mr. Bond, and he again went through it and checked it, 

 the result being that the work contains a permanent record of Mr. Bond's 

 most interesting captures in the district, and it is well known that he was 

 by far the most assiduous and successful collector in the rich fenlands of 

 Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire before the great drainage schemes 

 changed the face of the country. As an instance of Mr. Bond's reticence 

 in publishing his captures may be mentioned that at the time the claim of 

 Argyrolepia schreberiana to be British rested upon the single specimen 

 taken at Yaxley by Mr. Bouchard, and published in the 'Entomologist's 

 Annual' of 1855, Mr. Bond took about a dozen specimens at Wickeu, which 

 were unrecorded. Mr. Bond explained to me the locality, and being an 

 out-of-the-way spot, not likely to be visited, he said he felt certain the insect 

 was still there. This has received confirmation by its capture in recent 

 years. Among notable insects which Mr. Bond was the first to discover 

 may be mentioned Macrogaster castaneca (arundinis), Tapinostola hellmanni, 

 and Nonagria neurica, and the larvae of N. canna and Noctua subrosea. 

 Among the Micro-Lepidoptera Mr. Bond also worked most successfully, 



