74 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



[September i, 1891 



On the Birds of Madagascar, and their connection 

 with Native Folk-lore, Proverbs and Superstitions, by 

 the Rev. James Sibree, 



Diagnoses of new species of Birds from Central 

 East Africa, by R. Bowdler Sharpe. 



Notices of recent Ornithological Publications, 

 Letters, Extracts, Notices, etc. 



Four species of Birds are figured. They are : — 

 Ptilocickla basilanica, Irena ellae, male and female, 

 Oestrelata torquata, and C Hemophilus macgregori, a 

 very curious new genus of Paradise Bird, allied to 

 Xanthomelus. 



Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 London, 1,891, Part II. 1 3 1 pages of text, 13 black 

 and coloured plates. Price, 12 Shillings. 



The species figured are : — Otomis jacksoni. New 

 Butterflits from British East Africa, Lacerta simonyi, 

 New Dragonflies from Ceylon, Ammodorcas clarkei- 

 Skull of Ammodorcas clarkei, Bathybiaster rexilifer, 

 Pimelodus nigribarbis and cottoides, Otocinclus nigri, 

 cauda, Chaetostomus cirrhosus, Bunocephalus iheringi, 

 Trichomycterus minutus and New Asiatic Butterflies. 



Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, 

 Avril 1 89 1. 



The West American Scientist, the Nautilus, Feuille 

 des jeunes Naturalistes, the Canadian Entomologist, 

 the Kansas City Scientist, etc. 



Obituary. 



HENRY EDWARDS. 



This well-known and highly esteemed entomologist 

 died at his home, in New York City, on the 9th of 

 June, 1 89 1. His death was caused by dropsy and 

 other complicated troubles which affected the heart. 



In him the world has lost an earnest devotee to 

 science and art, and those who knew him a kind- 

 hearted, generous, true, and sympathising friend. In 

 his death, entomological science has lost one of its 

 most active and energetic workers, and his loss is 

 deeply felt and deplored by all who knew him, and he 

 has passed out of his earthly domain with the affec- 

 tionate regret of many grateful and loving friends. 

 Mr. Edwards was born in Ross, Herefordshire, Eng- 

 land, August 27th, 1830, and was destined by his 

 father to become a lawyer. After studying for some 

 time without evincing any particular aptitude for the 

 profession, he entered a London counting house, and 

 frequently appeared in amateur theatricals, for which 

 he had much talent. He finally decided, much 

 against the wish of his parents, to adopt the pro- 

 fessional stage. In 1853 he embarked for Australia, 

 where he made his first appearance as an actor, and 

 where he passed many prosperous years. From 

 Australia he drifted to Peru and Panama, and in 1867 

 he reached San Francisco, California. In about 1877 

 he made his first appearance in the East, at Boston, 

 and finally, in 1879, he came to New York. In 

 1889-90 he again visited his old home in Australia, 

 from where he returned last year. During all these 



years he was connected with the stage, until only a 

 short time previous to his decease, when he was com- 

 pelled to retire on account of his illness. At the time 

 of his death he had just returned from a trip to the 

 Catskill Mountains, where he was staying for his 

 health, and thiee and a half hours later he entered 

 into rest and the everlasting silence. 



As an entomologist Mr. Edwards was world-known, 

 and was considered one of the greatest authorities of 

 the science to which he was attached ever since his 

 boyhood's days. He was chiefly known by his excel- 

 lent papers on the Pacific Coast Lepidoptera, which 

 contain the descriptions of many new and interesting 

 species from that region. He was also known by his 

 articles on North American Aegeridae, of which 

 family he described nearly all our American species. 

 Besides these papers he has also written many other 

 articles on descriptions of new species and transform- 

 ations of Lepidoptera. 



He also edited three volumes of the journal 

 Papilio. The last large work he published was his 

 Bibliographical Catalogue of the described transforma- 

 tions of North Amei'ican Lepidoptera; which is now 

 in the hands of all our working entomologists. Mr. 

 Edwards spent much money for the increase of his 

 collection of Insects, and devoted all his leisure time 

 to his favourite study. His travels afforded him many 

 rare opportunities for collecting material for his collec- 

 tion and writings. The collection consists of about 

 300,000 specimens of Insects of all the orders from all 

 parts of the globe. It contains the types of all the 

 species he described, about four hundred and fifty, 

 except a few which are in other collections. It also 

 contains a number of Grote's types of Noctuidae and 

 Pyralidse, and many of Fish's types of Pterophoridae, 

 and types of other writers. It contains also the 

 unique pair of Oniticellus californicus, and many other 

 uniques, oddities and rareties of considerable value. 

 The collection is one of the largest private collections 

 in the world. His library consists of about five 

 hundred volumes of entomological works, and about 

 double the number of pamphlets, and about two 

 thousand volumes on travel and other topics. 



Mr. Edwards belonged to many scientific and other 

 Societies. He was for some time Vice-President of 

 the California Academy of Sciences, Life-member 

 Brooklyn Entomological Society, Member of the 

 Torrey Botanical Club, Players Club of New York, 

 Bohemian Club of San Francisco. Corresponding 

 member of the Boston Natural History Society, 

 Microscopical Society of San Francisco, Natural 

 History Society of San Diego, Belgium Natural 

 History Society, etc. 



He leaves a widow who deeply mourns his loss, and 

 we would here add our condolence and sympathy and 

 heart-felt regret to her irreparable bereavement. 



Wm. Beutenmuller. 

 New York, June 15th, 1891. 



Henry de la Cuisine, Dijon, Côtes d'Or, whose 

 death I have recorded in the July number of The 

 Humming Bird, has left all his valuable collections of 

 Insects to the town of Dijon. 



