THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 216.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1860 [Price Id. 
'THE INDICATOR.’ numbers in the Index to the ‘Manual,’ 
Under the title of ‘ The Lepidopterist’s 
Indicator’ there has lately appeared 
"An Alphabetically-arranged Guide to 
the Species of the British Lepidoplera,” 
from the pen of the Rev. B. Bradney 
Bockett. 
The idea of this work is that if a 
tyro receives au insect from a brother 
collector under a single name — and 
unfortunately mononymicism prevails 
very largely amongst us — he shall be 
able, by the aid of the ‘ Indicator,’ to 
discover the generic name of the spe- 
cies. Suppose, for instance, a moth is 
handed over to the tyro with the in- 
formation that it is Advena, he refers 
to the ‘Indicator,’ and reads as fol- 
lows : — 
Advena — genus Aplecta —family or group 
Noctuse — No. in Doubleday 679 — 
No. in Stainton 420 — No. in Wood 
295. 
Here then is a vast assistance gained ; 
instead of having to enquire of his 
friends, “ What geuus does Advena be- 
long to P ” he can find it out readily 
for himself. 
The No. in Stainton refers to the 
and hence if the generic name there 
adopted be not identical with that 
which Mr. Bockett patronizes, the in- 
cipient is enabled readily to trace it. 
The No. in Doubleday refers to the 
imaginary numbers, which would be 
there, supposing Doubleday’s second 
edition were consecutively numbered : 
any person can of course number his 
own list for himself. The No. in Wood 
speaks for itself; it refers to the figures 
in Wood’s ‘Index Entomologicus.’ 
Some confusion is created by the 
omission of those names which, though 
used in Stainton’s ‘ Manual,’ are not 
employed in Doubleday’s Catalogue: 
thus, if our friend Tyro receives an 
insect under the name of Vespiforme, 
Mr. Bockett gives him no assistance ; 
he must get some friend to tell him 
that Asiliformis is another name for 
the same insect. In this way the ‘ In- 
dicator’ will point out the right road 
to be taken as soon as we know our 
way, but not before. That the ‘In- 
dicator’ will prove of use we have no 
doubt, but its usefulness would have 
been much increased had these syno- 
nyms been added. 
i 
