268 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Dragon-flies in Ayrshire. During the past summer my son 

 and I were on the watch for Dragon-flies in the neighbourhood 

 of Saltcoats, where we were spending July and August. In a 

 corner of the golf course we found two specimens ( 6* ? ) of 

 Efiallagma cyathigerum. A little later we found Ischnna elegans, 

 an abundant species in all the marshy ground between Saltcoats and 

 Stevenston. T. Thornton Mackeith, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire 



Painted Lady Butterfly and Poplar Hawk Moth in 

 Banffshire. Perhaps Banffshire records of the Painted Lady and 

 Poplar Hawk Moth may be of interest. I saw a Painted Lady here 

 on 17th June 1918 on the Crannoch moor, evidently a specimen 

 which had hibernated. On 22nd June a female Poplar Hawk 

 Moth was caught in the garden, and during the next few days laid 

 a number of eggs. These began to hatch out on 1 ith July, and by 

 3rd September the surviving caterpillars, eight or nine, had pupated. 

 The caterpillars varied in colour, some being of a bluish green and 

 others of a yellower shade. J. Gowan, Cullen. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Field Book of Insects. By Frank E. Lutz, Ph.D. New York 

 and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1918. 509 pages. Price 

 12s. 6d. 



As the sub-title of this book indicates, the author, who has had a 

 long experience as Museum Curator, aims at answering some common 

 questions, and endeavours to give in a popular yet accurate manner just 

 the kind of information required by the layman who is interested in the 

 insects he comes across from day to day. In this handy volume, which 

 is remarkable for the wealth of its illustrations, we find an enormous 

 subject dealt with in an admirably concise yet lucid and entertaining 

 manner, and while congratulating the author on the success of his 

 achievement we cannot but wish that some equally gifted entomologist 

 and equally enterprising publisher would produce a work on similar 

 lines for the use of the British public. At the same time we would 

 remark that the book may be used with considerable advantage even 

 in this country, for although the species described and figured are 

 natives of the United States yet most of the groups to which they belong 

 are represented by similar forms in these islands. The figures, of 

 which there are about 800, are excellent, and are arranged on just 

 over 100 full-page plates, 24 of which are coloured. We can heartily 

 recommend this volume, which slips into the pocket, is of moderate 

 cost, and furnishes a thoroughly useful and reliable introduction to the 

 study of field entomology. P. H. G. 



