203 



The Entomologist's Annual. 



The * Entomologist's Annual' for 1864 contains, in my opinion, a 

 good half-crown's worth of information. " A Journey to Finmark," 

 by Dr. Wocke and Dr. Staudinger is full of interesting matter : the 

 Order Lepidoptera was that to which their attention was particularly 

 devoted. The Diptera, however, appear to have forced themselves 

 upon their notice : gnats, we learn, positively interfered with the col- 

 lecting of Lepidoptera : this we can very well believe ; and had Dr. 

 Staudinger fallen in with them in similar numbers to the Englishman 

 who wrote his name in a swarm with his stick, the name remaining 

 visible for some seconds, in such a case we imagine that Diptera alone 

 would have been attended to by the learned Lepidopterist. Hyme- 

 noptera, we learn, are plentiful in Finmark, and the Phryganidae rich 

 in species. 



My own "Notes on Hymenoptera" occupy nine pages, but I fear 

 they contain only one or two bits of information that will be con- 

 sidered worth recording ; one, remarking upon the almost total disap- 

 pearance of certain families of aculeate Hymenoptera; another, on 

 the capture of the male of a species of ant, that sex not being previously 

 known ; and the discovery of a new locality for the rare Didineis 

 lunicornis. I am happy in being able to give you the opinion of an 

 esteemed friend on the paper itself — it would perhaps have been an 

 excellent title — " A Dirge on Hymenoptera." 



Mr. Rye's paper on Coleoptera is a valuable record of the dis- 

 coveries of species new to our Fauna, and of errors in nomenclature : 

 four new species are very carefully described. Entomologists are 

 greatly indebted to Mr. Rye for his excellent resume of the labours 

 of the past year. 



Dr. Knaggs has contributed a valuable paper on new and rare spe- 

 cies of Lepidoptera. A table is given, which appears to me to be very 

 excellent, since it gives, in a most concise manner, just the informa- 

 tion we all desire to obtain relative to local or rare species. 



" N'otes on British Trichoptera," by Mr. McLachlan, is a paper 

 full of valuable information, particularly that portion which treats of 

 the interesting habits of this family. I can fully appreciate the 

 regret expressed by the author that so few Entomologists pay anj' 

 attention to the Phryganidae ; were it otherwise, many interesting dis- 

 coveries would no doubt be made. Let us hail then, with marked 

 approbation, the announcement of the intention of the author to com- 

 mence at once a Manual of the British Phryganidae j and let us hope 



