1899] INSECTS 223 



(included among the Neuroptera in Part I.), and placed next to the Beetles, 

 with which they have no near relationship. 



The treatment of the various groups is, however, admirable. No fewer 

 than 180 pages are devoted to the Bees, Wasps, and Ants, and the external 

 form and habits of these most interesting of insects are fully described after the 

 observations of Janet, Verhoeff, Marchal, Wasmann, and other recent natur- 

 alists. Internal structure should perhaps have received more attention ; some 

 details of the digestive and reproductive systems of the honey-bee might fairly 

 have been expected. Dr. Sharp writes on the economy of the social insects 

 with charming enthusiasm, freshness, and human interest. After recording 

 Holler's confirmation of Godart's statement — made 200 years ago — "that a 

 ' trumpeter-bee ' is kept in some nests to rouse the denizens to work in the 

 morning," the suggestion is hazarded that the hour when the trumpeting occurs 

 (3 or 4 a.m.), caused the observation to remain discredited for two centuries 1 

 The section on ants and their ways is particularly good. 



Most of Dr. Sharp's own entomological work has been done on the 

 Coleoptera, and his account of this order will therefore be scanned with special 

 interest. Undoubtedly some grouping of the numerous families of beetles into 

 large divisions is very convenient and desirable. Our author adopts the well- 

 known Lamellicornia (placed at the head of the order), Adephaga, Heteromera, 

 Phytophaga, and Rhynchophora, while the many families which will not fit 

 into any of these — the Clavicornia and Serricornia of former writers — are 

 relegated to a group appropriately called the Polymorpha. The account of 

 each family is illustrated by a figure of a typical species with its larva ; an 

 original figure of the remarkable stridulating-organ of a Passalid grub (p. 192) is 

 worthy of special mention. The enigmatic Strepsiptera are doubtfully regarded 

 as an aberrant group of Coleoptera. 



The section on the Lepidoptera is full, more attention than usual being- 

 devoted to internal structure. In the account of the wing-nervuration it is a 

 pity that the American nomenclature — familiar to readers of Natural Science 

 through the papers of Mr. A. R. Grote — is not mentioned. In classification, Sir 

 G. Hampson is followed, his key to the families from the "Moths of India" 

 being reproduced in full. Dr. Sharp's views on protective coloration and 

 mimicry are far from " orthodox." It is doubtless well that the Batesian and 

 Mullerian theories should not be dogmatically preached as they have been by 

 many writers. At the same time, Dr. Sharp is hardly as fair as usual when he 

 writes, " We think it is clear that the explanation from our point of view is of 

 but little importance," and when he refers to Prof. Poultoms " Colours of 

 Animals " as " the case as stated by an advocate." Dr. Dixey's recent suggestive 

 work in support of the positions attacked is not mentioned. 



That most difficult order of insects, the Diptera, is next dealt with, and 

 the account of the outer form, classification, and larvae of flies is admirably clear 

 and well balanced, though the internal organs and the formation of the parts of 

 the imago in the grub and pupa might well have received more attention. The 

 Fleas are treated as a sub-order of Diptera. There is a good account of the 

 small but interesting group Thysanoptera, which is rightly regarded by Dr. 

 Sharp as forming a distinct order. In the reference to UzePs recent beautiful 

 monograph on these insects, it is implied that the work is entirely in Bohemian, 

 whereas it contains a rather full German summary. 



The concluding chapter, devoted to the Hemiptera, is admirable both in its. 

 morphological and systematic portions. The Lice (Anoplura) are doubtfully 

 treated as a sub-order. The volume is beautifully illustrated, and the footnote 

 references to literature are full and instructive. Indeed, little complaint can be 

 made except to " ask for more." Could not the author have added a chapter 

 giving us his views on insects as a whole, the relationships between their orders, 

 the probable course of their evolution 1 Only the faintest echoes are to be 

 found in this book of the bold and suggestive paper on insect classification read 



