BOOK NOTICES 249 



another hole. Reply by J. A. Harvie-Brown. Zoologist, August 



i95> P- 3!3- 



THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE (PODICIPES CRISTATUS) IN 

 SCOTLAND. T. Thornton Mackeith. Zoologist, August 1905, p. 

 314. Three pairs seen on the Lake of Menteith (Perthshire), two 

 nests being found, containing two and three eggs respectively. 



NOTES OF COLEOPTERA CAPTURED DURING A TOUR THROUGH 

 SUTHERLANDSHIRE, AND AT AviEMORE, INVERNESS-SHIRE, IN THE 



MONTH OF JUNE, 1905. C. T. Cruttwell. Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 September 1905, pp. 209-210. Fifty-five species recorded. 



DIPTERA IN SCOTLAND. A. E. J. Carter. Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 July 1905, pp. 163-164. Records of numerous species collected 

 at Aberfoyle, Musselburgh, and Aberlady. 



LIST OF BRITISH DOLICHOPODID^E, WITH TABLES AND NOTES 

 (continued}. G. H. Verrall, F.E.S. Ent. Mo. Mag., July 1905, 

 pp. 167-172, and August 1905, pp. 188-196. Numerous Scottish 

 localities are given in this important paper. 



NOTES ON TACHINID.E, No. i. Colbran J. Wainwright, F.E.S. 

 Ent. Mo. Mag., September 1905, pp. 199-207. Numerous Scottish 

 records included. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



WASPS SOCIAL AND SOLITARY. By George W. and Elizabeth 

 G. Peckham. London: Archibald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1905. 



In this well-printed and nicely illustrated volume we find an 

 admirably written account of several North American species of 

 Hymenoptera, and as these possess very close relatives in Britain 

 and the west of Europe, the particulars of their life-history and 

 habits possess much interest. The book is fascinating in style, 

 like the well-known insect-studies of M. Fabre, and the performances 

 of these remarkable creatures are narrated in so honest a manner 

 that the reader is convinced of the truth of statements which are, to 

 say the least, most astonishing. We are told, for example, of a 

 solitary wasp which filled up 'her nest by putting her head down 

 into it and biting away the loose earth from the sides, jamming it 

 down with her head, bringing more and more earth from the 

 outside and finally picking up a small pebble in her mandibles and 

 using it as a hammer, pounding the dirt down until the surface was 

 "as hard and firm as the surrounding surface." But the whole 

 book is full of intensely interesting details, and as the low price 

 (six shillings net) is within the reach of all, it ought certainly to 

 have a large and ready sale in this country. The only suggestion 

 we have to make is that the word " American " might with 

 advantage be inserted in the title in order to prepare the reader for 

 the fact that most of the observations were made in Wisconsin. 



