1S97] SOME NEW BOOKS 207 



it " impossible to do more than describe and figure a selection of 

 species belonging to various families." 



It is a considerable disappointment to find that in his classification 

 of the noctuids and geometers, Mr Kirby closely follows the arrange- 

 ment proposed forty years ago by Guenee, instead of availing himself 

 of the work of those modern writers who have critically studied the 

 structure of these moths. There is probably hardly a serious student 

 of the noctuids who would not closely associate the genera which 

 Guenee distributed between his two " families," Apameidae and 

 Hadenidae ; yet Mr Kirby treats these assemblages as sub-families, 

 and separates them widely in his series. It is sincerely to be hoped 

 that in the coming volumes of his great catalogue of the lepidoptera 

 Mr Kirby will adopt a more modern classification. Otherwise the 

 value of his work will be seriously diminished. 



It could not be expected that much space would be devoted to the 

 habits of the moths which are mentioned, but a few notes of consider- 

 able interest on this subject are given by Mr Kirby. He has rescued 

 from a long obscurity an account published in 1830 by the Eev. L. 

 Guilding on the aquatic larva of a West Indian pearl-moth (Petrophila 

 fluviatilis). He also calls attention to de Eiville's account, published 

 nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, of a Mediterranean Antispila, 

 whose caterpillar mines in vine leaves. 



A large number of species are figured in the coloured plates, a good 

 proportion of them for the first time. Though the effect of some of the 

 colouring is rough, and there is a want of uniformity in the setting of 

 the specimen, these figures will be helpful for the determination of 

 species. Mr Kirby's wide knowledge of insects and their literature 

 must needs make his writings useful to naturalists, even if they do 

 not care to adopt all the changes in well-known names which he 

 believes to be necessary. G. H. C. 



A BlBLIOGEAPHICAL ENIGMA 



Manuel de Geograprie botaxique. Par Oscar Drude. Traduit par Georges 

 Poirault et revu et augmente par l'auteur. Livraisons, 14-16. 8vo, pp. 513-552, 

 with 4 maps. Paris : Klincksieck, 1897. 



We are glad to receive this, the completion of a useful translation and 

 edition of Drude's work on plant geography. The previous parts 

 have been noticed as they appeared ; the last consists chiefly of an 

 exhaustive, and so far we have tested it, accurate index, a list of 

 additions and corrections, and four folding maps. The price of the 

 book as a whole is 18 francs. While commending the work, we must 

 call attention to a serious omission, from a bibliographical point of 

 view. The title page, just issued, bears date 1897 ; but the first part 

 appeared in June 1893, and the remainder at various dates between 

 1893 and 1897. As the covers of the individual parts all bear the 

 same date, viz., 1893, and as there is no reference to successive dates 

 in the text, its issue in parts will be lost sight of, and the whole will 

 seem to have appeared in the present year. Thus another puzzle 

 will be added to the future bibliographer's list — a list already far too 

 long. To lessen this evil as far as possible w T e append the dates of 



