26 



The Na-TUralist. 



and these should succeed the last group of Hymenoptera, to which 

 these, as well as the Tabaniidce, assimilate in the structure of the 

 mouth. Then follow the A?iiscidce, SyrphidoR, and other groups of 

 this distinct order. 



In making this rapid sketch, of what I should propose as an 

 arrangement of insects, I have only been able to take the most 

 skipping glance at the various orders, and point out, where and how 

 one might be joined to another. I do it because I think there needs 

 to be some settled and accepted arrangement of the various orders of 

 British insects. The time is not far distant, I think, when entomology 

 shall be an accepted science, and shall form a part of. our national 

 education, and ' then, if not now, will be demanded a classification of 

 British insects. Typical collections are the things which will be found 

 most useful in instructing young people in the mysteries of the insect 

 world. And not only to them, but even to professed entomologists 

 such collections are always of great utility. These collections should 

 be formed in every public museum, in every scientific institution, and 

 in every school, for a knowledge of the insect world is of far greater 

 importance than much that is taught now under the name of 

 education. 



Lepidoptera in Ireland. — Having just returned from my usual 

 holiday in Ireland, which I always spend in entomology, I send a few 

 rough notes of my doings. I have to add the same sad tale as others. 

 My object in choosing the end of June and the beginning of July was to 

 take jB. furfurana and a beautiful variety of H. stagnalis, but when I 

 reached the hunting grounds they were all under water, and I only 

 succeeded in capturing very old specimens of the former, and none of the 

 hydrocampa. The only thing I worked at night was the flower of the 

 woodbine, which is generally very attractive ; but this year, with the 

 exception of a few of the commonest moths, yielded little beyond P. iota, 

 V-aureum, festucce, the latter terribly worn. C. lichenaria, which is 

 generally fairly plentiful, was entirely absent, as also Sesia hemheciformis. 

 I saw two types of D. Barrettii, taken at Howth, but I was not successful 

 in my attempts there, as I came away, after a long day's work, with little 

 or nothing. The strangest thing 1 saw was on July 3rd, about 11-30 

 a.m., A. cardamines, which seems to point to a second brood. Altogether 

 the season seems to me to be one of the worst for entomologists, and we 

 must only hope for ''better luck next time." — G. C. B. Madden, 

 Armitage Bridge Vicarage, Huddersfield. 



