1894.] 117 



freely imparted his information to others, and it is to be regretted that he produced 

 comparatively little original work ; he had been heard to say that his time was too 

 much occupied in testing the observations of others. In addition to notes in various 

 serials, he published two papers on the edibility of certain caterpillars as correlated 

 with their colours, &c., in the Trans. Ent. Soc. for 1869 and 1870, and, indeed, most 

 of his observations lay in the direction of Philosophical Natural History, in con- 

 nection with which he largely assisted Darwin (of whom he was an enthusiastic 

 admirer), as acknowledged by him in his writings. It can truly be said of him that 

 there was no branch of Natural History of which he had not some acquaintance, 

 and of many it was intimate. 



Early in his career he studied British Micro- Lepidopiera, and several of his 

 discoveries therein were named after him. At times he seemed to practically 

 abandon Entomology, and to take up enthusiastically some other cognate subject, 

 such as Ornithology, Botany, &c. His latter years were principally devoted to 

 Horticulture and the formation of an extensive general collection of Butterflies, 

 more especially of those groups that afforded subjects for the study of mimicry and 

 protective resemblances. In conjunction with his brother, Harrison Weir, the 

 artist (who differed from him in all respects as much as two men possibly could, save 

 in the love of Nature common to both), he frequently acted as judge at the Crystal 

 Palace cat, dog, and bird shows. 



In the foregoing notes we have endeavoured to bring prominently forward the 

 many-sidedness of Weir's acquirements. In social circles he will be long missed 

 by a large number of friends, and not the least for his conversational powers, which 

 were exhibited in a strikingly emphatic manner ; with Jenner Weir for a companion 

 a railway journey was never tedious. He had travelled much on the Continent, and 

 never failed to acquire stores of information thereby ; his aptitude for exact obser- 

 vation was of the highest order. 



Some years ago he was attacked by a form of heart disease of a terribly fatal 

 character {angina pectoris was the cause of his extremely sudden death), but after 

 the shock of the first knowledge of the nature of his malady he soon re-acquired 

 his natural vivacity, and his friends noticed that latterly his innate vitality seemed 

 more marked than ever. Those who knew him intimately realize the loss of a 

 thorough naturalist, a genial companion, and a faithful friend. He leaves a widow, 

 one son and two daughters ; a second son died suddenly in Germany when com- 

 pleting his education. — R. McL. 



0([iiittes. 



Birmingham Entomological Society : Ilarch 19ih, 1894. — Mr. E. C. 

 Bradley in the Chair. 



Mr. A. H. Martineau showed a few Lepidopiera received from Sierra Leone ; 

 he also showed a small collection of Lepidopiera, made by Mr. E,. W. Chase in 

 Lundy Island last year : it contained, amongst other things, Satyrus Semele, Vanessa 

 Atalanta, V. urtica, V. polychloros, Macroglossa stellaiarum, Bonilyx ruhi, Zygcena 

 trifolii, and Z.fdipendulce. Mr. Bradley remarked that many of the specimens 

 were distinctly under the average size of the species. Mr. Bradley and Mr. Colbran 



