BOOK NOTICES 127 



volume, despite the shortcomings alluded to, is a useful one, and 

 is nicely got up a credit to publisher and printer alike. It is 

 illustrated by fifty black-and-white reproductions of photographs of 

 Manx scenery and bird-haunts, and there are also two useful and 

 excellent maps. 



AMERICAN INSECTS. By Vernon L. Kellogg. (London : 

 Archibald Constable and Co., 1905). 



This work, which can be had for the very moderate price of one 

 guinea, is a handsome octavo volume of 674 pages, with 13 well- 

 executed coloured plates and no fewer than 812 illustrations in the 

 text. It is divided into eighteen chapters, with an Appendix and a 

 carefully compiled Index. The first three chapters are of an intro- 

 ductory nature, extremely well written and forming a most useful 

 summary of facts connected with the anatomy, physiology, life- 

 history, and classification of Insects in general. Then follow twelve 

 chapters dealing with the various Orders, commencing with the 

 Springtails and Bristletails and leading up to the very specialised 

 Wasps, Bees, and Ants. Each order is treated with a great amount 

 of detail, analytical keys being given to the principal groups, while 

 the general appearance and habits of the principal North American 

 representatives are described in a remarkably lucid and interesting 

 manner. In this section of the work the illustrations are, in the 

 main, excellent, the line drawings being, in our opinion, much 

 superior to the process-blocks, which in some cases are uneven and 

 blotchy. The coloured plates are executed by three-colour process 

 and are, on the whole, good examples of this art. The conclud- 

 ing chapters will no doubt appeal to a large class of readers, 

 since they treat of such fascinating subjects as Insects and Flowers, 

 Colour and Pattern and their uses, and the relations between Insects 

 and Disease. Altogether the conception and execution of the work 

 are excellent, and we should much like to see a similar -work on the 

 insects of this country. It is just such a general introductory volume 

 as is needed by the youthful entomologist, giving him a thoroughly 

 useful and reliable groundwork and fitting him for future development 

 as a specialist. Even to the ordinary nature-lover it should prove 

 an attractive book, and we can cordially recommend it to our readers. 



THE BRITISH FRESHWATER RHIZOPODA AND HELIOZOA. By 

 James Cash, assisted by John Hopkinson, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., etc. 

 Vol. I. Rhizopoda, Part I. (London : The Ray Society, 1905.) 



This volume is the first instalment of what will prove to be a 

 monograph of great value to students of the lowest forms of animal 

 life to be found in our Islands ; a treatise on which has been a 

 desideratum in the literature devoted to the exposition of the British 

 fauna. The introductory section deals with the Rhizopoda generally, 

 their structure, means of locomotion, food, reproduction, distribution, 

 and methods for their collection and preservation. This is followed 



