18G8. 285 
It has alwnys boon a standing reproach that, ont of the probable number of 
1500 colloetors of Lepidoptera in Britain, not one fiftieth part attend to aught that 
occurs outside the narrow limits of these islands ; a practice fraught with many 
objections, as it occasions a self-chosen ignorance of the broad principles of 
entomological science, and tempts the too often unscrupulous dealer to palm 
off imported insects as native-born. A continental entomologist of any country 
very seldom confines his attention solely to home productions ; and, though 
he may profess to make only an European collection, his ideas of the exact boun- 
daries of the regions beyond which he will not deign to inquire are usually very 
vague. Thus we find so-called Etu-opean collections containing insects from the 
African shores of the Mediten'anean, from Asia Minor, Siberia, and even from 
Greenland. Contrast this with the practice that excludes the productions of the 
Channel Islands from the British Fauna, and then consider which is likely to enter- 
tain the more philosophical ideas, — a British or a Continental entomologist ! 
Howeve5r, " out of evil cometh good ;" and owing to our isolation, mentally and 
physically, no country has probably a more clear notion of its peculiar Fauna and 
Flora than Britain : and in Mr. Fust's elaborate paper this is still further concen- 
trated. Extending the system elucidated by Mr. Watson in his " Cybele Britannica," 
he divides Britain into 18 provinces and 38 sub-provinces, with an addition of 4 
provinces representing Ireland. Hence there are three series of tables, — one for 
provinces, a second for sub-provinces, and a third indicating the " type " (e. g., — 
" Germanic," " Atlantic," &c.) to which each species is supposed to pertain : this 
latter table is, to our mind, of the least value, the typical divisions being probably 
cliimerical. For the best of reasons the tables are carried only as far as the end of 
the Cramhina. The work has occupied Mr. Fust's attention for many years, and 
must have occasioned great labour in its compilation, inasmuch as his information 
has not only been derived from the lists sent to him by many of our principal Lepi- 
dopterists, but also from the records scattered through the myriad of existing and 
extinct publications devoted entii'ely or partially to Entomology. It appears to us 
to be most carefully worked out, and should be in the hands of all who aspire to be 
something more than "collectors." Some of the negative evidence is curious, not to 
say ludicrous : thus Pieris rapce is not noticed as occurring in a considerable portion 
of the Scotch Highlands, simply of course from want of information, not from 
absence of the insect. 
We cannot afford space for a longer notice of this valuable contribution to 
Entomology. To the isolated ' Britisher ' it will prove of much sei'vice in helping him 
to an answer to the cui bono of his localising tendencies ; to the entomologist of more 
extended views, who will carefully compare it with continental local lists, it will bo 
found suggestive of much fruitful speculative thought. Those who are fond of light 
readiug in science will probably find little in it to interest them ; it is par excellence 
a book for the study. 
Entomological Society of London, March 16th, 1868. H. W. Bates, Esq., 
F.Z.S., President, in the Chair, 
C. Carrington, Esq., of Westwood Park, Forest Hill, was elected a Member. 
Mr. Smith exhibited a cocoon of the size of a man's head, constructed by a 
