130 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 



purposes, since with a little practice it can be held in the eye, 

 leaving the two hands free for the manipulation of the needles 

 and forceps. 



The types for study have been advisedly selected, being those, like 

 the cockroach, water-beetle, garden-spider, and prawn, which can be 

 obtained in almost every country district, or in any of our towns or 

 their neighbourhood, and may very easily lie kept alive in suitable 

 surroundings. For one of the great merits of this little book is, that 

 it recommends an observation of the habits of the species before they 

 be submitted to the process of dissection. 



The errors of the book are few and, on the whole, unimportant. 

 It is not however usual to regard the carapace in the Crustacea as 

 synonymous with the cephalothorax ; and to say that the former 

 consists of fourteen segments in the prawn, when it really represents 

 the tergal elements of but two is misleading. Moreover, and since 

 Mr Scherren — not without the countenance of authority— applies the 

 word 'joint' to the internode or segment of a limb, it would be 

 interesting to learn by what term the point of junction of two 

 ' joints ' is to be recognised. Lastly, Dr David Sharp will not be 

 flattered by the ascription to him of the authorship of the ' Myria- 

 poda ' in the Cambridge Natural History. In spite of these blemishes, 

 however, the book may be cordially recommended to beginners as an 

 excellent practical lesson in the elements of the morphology and 

 bionomics of the Arthropoda. R. I. POCOCK. 



For the Young Entomologist 



Faune de France : Orthopteres, Neuropteres, Hymenopteres, Lepidopteres, Hemi- 

 pteres, Dipteres, Aphanipteres, Thysanopteres, Rhipipteres. Par A. Acloque. 

 viii. and 516 pp., with 1235 figures. Paris: Bailliere, 1897. Price, 8 francs. 



The Young Beetle-Collector's Handbook. By Dr E. Hofmann, with an introduc- 

 tion by W. Egmont Kirby, M.D. 8vo. viii. and 17S pp., 20 coloured plates. 

 London : Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1897. Price, 4s. 6d. 



The fauna of France in the groups mentioned above may be estimated 

 at about 15,000 species, and M. Acloque disposes of them in this 

 small volume. We have previously (Natural Science, May 1896, 

 p. 346) explained the plan of the work, and need only add that, in 

 the volume now before us, the necessity of keeping the number of 

 pages within assigned limits has caused the author to abandon the 

 attempt at dealing with species in the more extensive and difficult 

 families ; so that in these cases we find only tables of the genera. 



In his preface the author recognises that this volume does not 

 accomplish all that was intended when the scheme of dealing with 

 the whole fauna of France in four small volumes was adopted. The 

 system of terminations used in the names of the systematic groups is 

 extremely repellent : the well-known family name Apidae becomes 

 Apisidi; and as sub-family names we find Andrenii and Bombii, 

 derived from Andrena and Bombus. Possibly the system is theo- 

 retically excellent, but it reminds us of Montgomery's lines about 

 Nebuchadnezzar, who 



" murmured as he cropped the unwonted food, 

 It may be wholesome but it isn't good." 



Dr Hofmann's work is remarkably well printed, and the twenty 



