﻿1870.] 219 



until recently that their un-hoped-for confirmation arrived. In Mr. Walsh our 

 Transatlantic brethren have lost one of their most energetic workers, a man who 

 probably did more than any other entomologist, either in Europe or America, to 

 demonstrate the necessity for scientific advisers, when absurd prejudices and 

 superstitions regarding the causes, effects, and treatment of the depredations 

 caused by insect-pests, surmount all other considerations in the minds of the 

 sufferers. Though his bent evidently tended towards utilitarian entomology, Mr. 

 Walsh stood prominently forward as a man of science, and his discovery of the 

 male of Cynips will not soon be forgotten. A devoted adherent to the theory of 

 Darwin, he at all times rendered to his scientific mentor the homage of a pupil, 

 and, if we mistake not, the forthcoming works of our renowned philosopher will 

 show how much he assisted him. Respecting Mr. Walsh's history, we cannot do 

 better than extract the following from an American paper, dated the 26th Decem- 

 ber, 1869, believing it gives a true portraiture of the man — " The unexpected 

 " death of our State Entomologist, Bem'amin D. Walsh, of Rock Island, from 

 " injuries resulting from his being run over by a railway train at that place, excites 

 " universal regret. He was a man of strong likes and dislikes — as good a hater 

 " as Dr. Johnson could have desired — and doubtless had his enemies among those 

 " whose opinions he had freely scouted, and whose wrong-doings he had unsparingly 

 " condemned ; but his heartiness, his earnestness in the pursuit and dissemination 

 " of scientific truth, his efforts in popularizing and making his favourite study of 

 " entomology of immediate and practical value to our farmers and fruit-growers, 

 " will make him regretted and remembered by all. 



" Born in England in 1808, and a graduate of Trinity College, he attained 

 " the honours of a fellowship which he resigned, and coming to Illinois, was en- 

 " gaged first in farming, afterwards dealing in lumber, and finally, as he attained a 

 " moderate competence, in pursuing his favourite study of entomology. As editor 

 " of the ' Practical Entomologist ' in 1865-7, and afterwards associated with 

 " C. V. Riley, the State entomologist of Missouri, in the 'American Entomologist,' 

 " he has earned a national fame." 



Entomological Society of London, 3rd January, 1870. — H. W. Bates, Esq., 

 F.Z.S., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Hewitson sent for exhibition a magnificent collection of butterflies collected 

 by Mr. Buckley, in Ecuador. Although in the locality for only a few months, he had 

 in that time collected about 5,000 butterflies, including 135 species new to science. 

 Mr. Buckley, who was present, gave some interesting details respecting the distri- 

 bution, &c, of these insects ; remarking that very few species occurred on both 

 sides of the Andes, and that in Heliconia there seemed to be a species peculiar to 

 each valley. 



Professor Westwood exhibited drawings of a peculiar example of Anthocaris 

 cardamines in the collection of Dr. Boisduval. This appeared to be a male in 

 which the orange-tip of the fore-wings was variegated by patches of the white 

 female coloration. 



Mr. Bond exhibited two examples of Acrydiumperegrinum from Cornwall ; about 

 30 examples had been captured in that county, and in Devon, last autumn. 



