BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 



A visit has been made by Adrian Pont to check the H. W. Andrews collection of 

 Diptera for specimens mentioned in descriptions of new species by G. H. Verrall and 

 J. E. Collin, who did not often designate type specimens; he has discovered syntypes 

 of six species and has labelled them accordingly. 



Some notes on the history and composition of the Diptera collection were circulated 

 with the Dipterist's Bulletin and this has led to offers of material in some under- 

 represented families. A similar account of the Coleoptera will soon be produced in 

 an endeavour to encourage use of this collection. The request last year for input from 

 coleopterists with respect to the layout and revision of the collection has so far resulted 

 in limited response, although Peter Hodge has offered to advise where species believed 

 to be unrepresented may be present under another name; this will give some idea 

 where the attention of specialists would be desirable. 



Peter Baker has volunteered to begin working towards an improved layout of the 

 British moths and much thought is being given to the logistics of this considerable 

 task. As always, any members wishing to advise or assist on any aspects of the 

 arrangement would be welcomed. 



I am also grateful to Frances Murphy for spending several open days cataloguing 

 the fossil collection received from Ted Wild; her manuscript list has been placed with 

 the collection. 



In general there has been steady progress in a number of areas and the controlled 

 environment at Dinton Pastures appears to have been beneficial despite some minor 

 and one or two major fluctuations. We have, however, suffered from the remarkably 

 hard water in the area, which is affecting the humidifying component of the air 

 conditioning system, and water softening for this system is now under consideration. 



A few Anthrenus larvae were found to have survived in the Bretherton collection 

 and one instance of damage to specimens of the hornet was discovered but it is believed 

 that we are currently free of such infestations. 



Peter Chandler 



EDITOR'S REPORT 



As usual, the journal appeared four times in 1993, it contained 192 pages of text 

 and five colour plates. The fifth colour plate, illustrating moths of the family 

 Epermeniidae and the genus Caryocolum was actually printed in 1987, but held over 

 until accompanying text was completed. It is one of several colour plates illustrating 

 papers on the microlepidoptera which will eventually be published together in 

 book form. 



The indexes for 1991 and 1992 were published at the end of the year and publication 

 of the journal has continued more or less as usual. There were, however, a few changes 

 which I hope did not pass unnoticed. 



We are now using a higher quality of paper, allowing even better reproduction 

 of black and white line illustrations and half-tone figures and the cover is now printed 

 on a stiff card. The redesign of the cover also allows a black and white half-tone 

 picture to ornament it. To date most of these pictures have been supplied by the editor. 

 However, all members are invited to submit photographs for reproduction on the 

 journal's covers. The subject matter is open, with an emphasis on aesthetic value 

 rather than scientific novelty and can be in the form of colour or black and white 

 prints or colour transparencies. 



Richard A. Jones 



