18S8.T 187 



the one bred manj years ago bj Mr. Staiiitoa from larva) found near Dunkeld. The 

 late Mr. Sang bred some speeimens of a Nepticula from the same plant, and these 

 Dr. Mason now possesses, along with a pair of mine. It would bo interesting to 

 hear whether these last also are identical. In any ease, the new insect wants a 

 name, and I would suggest that Mr. Stainton having first bred it, should act as 

 godfather. I have now pupaj alive, as has also Mr. Warren, to whom I sent larvee 

 this autumn. — I. H. Theelfall, Ashton, Preston : December 5th, 1887. 



Bohemannia quadrimaculella in XorfolJc. — When at Lowestoft last August, I 

 found Bohemannia quadrimaculella flying in the sun, and, as usual, amongst alders. 

 Can anybody suggest its mode of life ? I should fancy that it ought to be possible 

 for some one living in a neighbourhood where it occurs to breed it, by fixing a shoot 

 of alder, with seeds, in a glass tube with muslin over the ends, and then turning a 

 few of each sex into the cage thus formed. I have found this plan succeed with 

 the oak-feeding Tinagma sericiellum. — W. C. BoTD, College Eoad, Cheshunt : 

 December lUh, 1887. 



The Life and Letters of Chaeles Daewin : Edited by his Son, Francis 

 Darwin. 3 vols. London : John Murray. 1887- 



To all who take an interest in the progress of science, there are few more in- 

 teresting biographies than the present ; for Charles Darwin had gained the devotion 

 of those who admired his scientific work, as well as of those who had known him 

 personally. 



Born at Shrewsbury in 1809, his taste for collecting was "well developed" 

 when about eight years old. At school his education under the classical system 

 " was simply a blank " (vol. i, p. 32). Once Dr. Butler (the master) " publicly 

 rebuked " him for working at Chemistry, " and thus wasting my time on such 

 useless subjects " (vol i, p. 35) . Later he w as too fond of his gun and " the stubbles," 

 so that his father (a physician, and son of the author of " Zoonomia") once said to 

 him, " you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family." In 1825 he went to 

 Edinburgh to study medicine, but, having no taste for anatomy he made no dis- 

 sections, which "has proved one of the greatest evils of my life." In 1828 he was 

 sent to Cambridge, with the view of becoming a clergyman ; there he "got into a 

 sporting set," but was rescued by the Rev. Prof. Henslow, and from him he received 

 the impetus which determined his future career. At this time he was an eager 

 collector of beetles. Writing to Sir J. Lubbock years after, he says, " I feel like an 

 old war horse at the sound of the trumpet, when I read about the capture of rare 

 beetles." Collecting he thought " the best sport in the world " (vol. iii, p. 114). 



On the 27th of December, 1831, he sailed in the Beagle (a ten gun brig, a class 

 of ships in those days sometimes called " coffins ") from Devonport, on the celebrated 

 voyage which occupied five years. During this time he collected largely ; but for 

 entomologists it will always be a matter of regret that only a few fragmentary 

 notices of the insects were published. From their novelty, as well as from a geo- 



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