366 SOME NEW BOOKS [November 



VARIATIONS IN BUTTERFLIES. 



Ueber einige Aberrationen von Papilio machaon. By Prof. J. W. Spengel. 

 48 pp. 3 pis. Jena: G. Fischer, 1899. Price 2 m. 50 pf. 



Dr. Spengel's valuable paper on varieties of the common European 

 " Swallowtail " Butterfly, which appeared in the Zoologische Jahrbilcher, will 

 be welcomed by entomologists in this separate form. After a careful 

 description of the wing-markings and their position with regard to the nervures 

 in typical examples of P. machaon, the author proceeds to an account of the 

 various named aberrations which have been met with, his remarks being 

 illustrated with excellent coloured figures. Specially noteworthy are the forms 

 evittata, in which the black and blue sub-marginal bands are wanting ; 

 7iigrofasciata, a melanistic form in which the red eye-spot of the hind wing 

 tends to disappear ; and nigra, in which all the wing-surfaces are suffused with 

 black. Evidence is brought forward to show that the production of the 

 melanic varieties does not depend necessarily on low temperature. The very 

 remarkable form, elunata, is a monstrosity in which the wing-nervures are 

 most imperfectly developed, they almost vanish towards the hind margin of 

 the wing, and the sub-marginal dark band shows accordingly no segmentation. 

 Dr. Spengel has materially advanced our knowledge of a fascinating subject. 



G. H. C. 



THE AFFINITIES OF THE TERMITES. 



We have received the second and third parts of Mr. W. W. Froggatt's 

 monograph of the Australian Termitidae (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W., 1896, 1897), 

 comprising the general classification of the family and a detailed description of 

 the known Australian species. In his discussion of the relationship of the 

 Termites to other insects, Mr. Froggatt leans to the view that they have closer 

 affinities to earwigs and cockroaches than to any other group, and that they 

 should therefore be included among the Orthoptera rather than among the 

 " Pseudo-neuroptera." 



AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



Mr. Froggatt is also devoting attention to injurious insects in New South 

 Wales. A paper by him on " Gall-producing Insects," with special reference to 

 Coccids, is published in the Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W., 1898, while 

 in conjunction with Messrs. Allen, Blunno, and Guthrie, he has issued an 

 excellent illustrated pamphlet on " Insect and Fungus Diseases of Fruit-trees." 

 The various pests are grouped according to the trees which they injure. Each 

 species is clearly figured, and the best means for clearing the orchards is plainly 

 described. 



DIARY OF TWO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 



Bird Life in an Arctic Spring. The Diaries of Dan Meinertzaghen and 

 R. P. Hornby. Crown 8vo, pp. 150. London : R. H. Porter, 1899. 



This dainty little volume has been published as a memorial of Dan 

 Meinertzhagen, who recently succumbed to a brief illness at the early age of 

 twenty-three. He was always devoted to birds, and had made a special study 

 of the Raptores, upon which he hoped to complete a Monograph. But the 

 material which has found its way into print is a literal transcript of a private 

 journal kept during a visit paid to Finland in the summer of 1897, supple- 

 mented by the notes of the young sportsman who shared his hardships. The 



