354 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Field Book of Insects : with Special Reference to those of the North-Eastern 

 United States, aiming to answer Common Questions. By Frank E. Lutz, 

 Ph.D. [Pp. x + 509, with about 800 illustrations — many in colours.] 

 (New York and London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 19 18. Price 82.50 net.) 



When one considers that it has been estimated that about 15,000 insects are to 

 be found within a radius of about fifty miles of New York, one cannot avoid 

 admiring the intrepidity of an author who endeavours to deal with the insects of the 

 North-Eastern United States in a book of reasonable size. Yet here we have 

 a volume of 500 pages, that can easily be slipped into the coat pocket, in which this 

 vast ground has been covered in an amazingly successful manner. Not merely 

 is a very well illustrated key to all the most important genera provided, but a 

 most useful introduction on the general structure of insects, methods of collecting 

 and preserving, and a comprehensive index also included. 



The soundness of Dr. Lutz's work on the insects and his wide experience are 

 matters of general knowledge. When to this is added a breezy, clear and concise 

 way of handling the subject, the result is, of course, a book that is indispensable to 

 anyone starting out to collect insects in North-Eastern America, and it is assured 

 of a wide circulation. 



While its appeal is particularly to collectors in that region, it will serve as a 

 useful model of the way things should be done elsewhere. We only wish we had 

 had the fortune to come across such a volume when starting off " bug-hunting." 



The Monograph of the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles. 



By John W. Taylor, M.Sc, F.L.S. (Leeds : Taylor Bros., 1900. 

 Vols. I, II, III, published, Vol. IV in course of publication. Price £2 2s. 

 net per volume.) 



The title of this work is sufficiently indicative of its contents to need no further 

 expansion. It is indeed worthy of the name of Monograph, for each species is 

 treated in a very full manner from the anatomical, bionomic, distributional, 

 palaeontological and systemic points of view. All the species are dealt with from 

 every possible point of view, and so fully that the work will undoubtedly be 

 invaluable as a work of reference to all malacologists. If anything calls for 

 special notice in this fine work, it is, perhaps, the illustrations, which merit special 

 praise. The subjects illustrated are very accurately drawn and the plates well 

 reproduced. Not only are there a large number of text figures, but the vignettes 

 of people historically connected with various groups and sketches of characteristic 

 localities add much to the charm of the book. Few works of this type are 

 written nowadays, and it represents an enormous amount of careful and studious 

 work. It is an excellent volume that will firmly establish the author's reputation 

 for exactness and scholarship. 



C. H. O'D. 



Spencer Fnllerton Baird, a Biography including Selections from his Cor- 

 respondence with Audubon, Agassiz, Dana and Others. By W. PL 

 Dall, A.M., D.Sc. [Pp. xvi +462, with 19 illustrations.] (Philadelphia 

 and London : J. B. Lippincott Co., 191 5. Price S3. 50 net.) 



Although somewhat late, this volume has only just come to my hands for 

 review, and I have read it with much pleasure. Baird was, of course, known 



