A T otes and Comments. 
on'* 
after divine Service was ended. This is a short but true 
relation of the Calamitous Condition of our once flourishing 
Town of Hornsey.’ 
LANCASHIRE NATURALIST. 
The Lancashire and Cheshire Naturalist for August is a very 
good number. Among the articles we notice, ‘ Plant Associa- 
tions of South Lancs.’ ; ‘ Peat Mosses,’ by W. G. Travis ; ‘ The 
Natterjack Toad on the Wirral Coast,’ by R. Standen ; ‘ Aliens 
[plants] at Birkdale Docks,’ J. W. Ellis ; ‘ Fungi of Lancashire 
Sand Dunes,’ by H. J. Weldon ; ‘ Shell Marl in N. Lancs, and 
Westmorland,’ by J. W. Jackson ; and ‘The Crossopterygian 
Fossil Fishes of this Area,’ by Rev. S. G. Birks. In this last, 
which occupies nearly 2| pages, the author tells us it is his 
intention to contribute papers of this character from time to 
time. We learn that the author has considered a quantity of 
new material relating to Megalichthys hihberti (the type of 
which, in the Leeds Museum, was well described by Prof. 
Miall), and has been able to ‘ suggest a more complete des- 
cription of the species than appears to have been given before.’ 
In his description, which occupies just one page, we have 
failed to detect anything new, nor can we find any new features 
in his ‘ restoration of the whole fish, by the author.’ For the 
benefit of his readers, therefore, we trust that in his intended 
future contributions, the author will explain to us what parts 
of his brief notes are new. 
SPECIALISTS. 
We are afraid that the science of Entomology is slowly but 
surely exceeding the ken of ordinary mortals, and will soon be 
limited to the efforts of the chosen few whose telescopic optics 
enable them to distinguish the differences in the length of the 
snouts of the parasites on mites, and who therefore dub them 
‘ longirostris ’ or ‘ brevirostris ’ as the case may be. It makes us 
almost sigh for the good old days of half a century ago, when we 
could read an entomological or zoological journal from cover 
to cover, and find it all interesting and understandable. We do 
not wish to deprecate the excellent and necessary work the 
specialists are doing, but year by year they are reaching 
heights far beyond the powers of the average student, who 
tries to follow them along paths which are gradually narrowing, 
and eventually develop into veritable obstacle races. 
SYNONYMY. 
Air. E. A. Newbury writes in The Entomologist’ s Monthly 
Magazine for September : — ‘ Xantholinus scoticus Joy : syn- 
onymical note. This insect appears to me to be identical with 
what Reitter regards as the type-form of A', angustatus Steph. 
1914 Oct. 1. 
