376 Bibliographical Notice, 



spinoso, metathorace bispinuloso, abdomine latiore nigro bievi- 

 elliptico, pedibus brcviusculis. 



Worker. Reddisb, convex, short, broad, scabrous, pilose. Head 

 subquadrate, a little broader than the thorax. Antennae clavate. 

 Scutellum with two long acute spines, which are directed obliquely 

 hindward. Metathorax with two small spines. Abdomen black, 

 short-elliptical, broader than the thorax. Legs short. Length of 

 the body 2 lines. 



Fam. MutillidsB. 



TiPHiA DECRESCENS. Foem. Nigra, nitens, scitissime punctata, 

 antennis subtus rufis, prothoracis margine postico rufescente, 

 abdomine fusiformi subtus apice rufescente, pedibus rufis, coxis 

 femoribusque nigris, his apice rufis, alis cinereis, venis stigmateque 

 nigris. 



Female. Black, shining, very finely punctured. Head a little 

 broader than the thorax ; clypeus somewhat truncated, with a 

 transverse furrow at its base. Antennae red beneath. Hind border 

 of the prothorax reddish. Metathorax with two strise, which con- 

 verge hindward. Abdomen fusiform, reddish beneath at the tip. 

 Legs red, short, thick ; coxse and femora black, the latter with 

 red tips. Wings cinereous ; veins and stigma black ; third sub- 



• marginal areolet extending almost as far as the marginal areolet, 

 about half the length of the third discoidal areolet. Length of 

 the body 3 lines ; of the wings 5 lines. 



[To be continued.] 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



An Illustrated Index of British Shells, with Coloured Figures of 

 all the Species. By G. B. Sowerby, F.L.S. Simpkin and Co. 

 1859. 



We are glad to find collectors of British shells supplied with a 

 useful and beautiful manual of species at a comparatively small price. 

 Hitherto they have been unable to procure any work containing the 

 whole or any large portion of the species, without incurring an ex- 

 pense of many pounds. Mr. Sowerby now gives them the whole six 

 hundred species, well figured, and arranged in such a manner that 

 the reader can turn to a given plate and its opposite page, and learn 

 at a glance what he wishes to know of the localities, habits, and 

 relative characters of all the species of a given genus. The author 

 claims to introduce about fifty new species. Some of these have been 

 figured in other books as mere varieties, others are figured for the 

 first time from specimens described by Mr. Jeffreys and others in the 

 * Annals.' We are by no means inclined to decide on the specific 

 value of the distinctions asserted ; but the author has left us in no 

 doubt as to what they are. We wish success to this well-conceived 

 and well-executed endeavour to supply a public want. 



