312 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Nov. , '04 



Entomological Literature. 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA : J. W. Tutt, London. 



The fourth volume of this monumental work has just been received 

 and fully maintains the exhaustive standard established by its predcessors, 

 and, without touching on the technical completeness of it, I want to 

 particularly bring it to the attention of our American workers in Ento- 

 mology ; every collector of insects, especially Lepidpptera, in the United 

 States and Canada should have in his library at least one volume, if he 

 cannot have all, of this work. The reason for this very positive statement 

 is, that it tells one zvhat to do. We have hundreds of careful, observant, 

 some natural born, collectors in this country, the great majority of whom 

 are far removed from Entomological centers, and are, for the most of 

 their time groping in the dark, and wasting opportunities for making 

 original and very important observations, that may never come their way 

 again, because what they see with so little effort seems of little conse- 

 quence and not worth the trouble of recording, or even if impressed 

 with a particular item of insect economy pass it by, because of the 

 thought that, of course, some one else knows all about it and has pub- 

 lished it somewhere. 



In Mr. Tutt's work all of the observations of every independent obser- 

 ver are gathered together about each particular species, going into the 

 most minute detail with regard to every phase of its life and habits, points 

 that alone are seemingly unsignificant are being placed side by side with 

 others, and together help to make each other clear, to all of which are 

 added his illuminating summarizations and comprehensive treatment of 

 the whole. 



Even a few chapters carefully read in any one of the volumes will for- 

 cibly impress on the mind of the collector or student alike the import- 

 ance and necessity of careful, ceaseless and never satisfied desire to add 

 to the knowledge of his favorite pastime or pursuit, and, most important, 

 he will be made to clearly understand what are the really valuable things 

 to observe, and how and when to look for them. As complete as this 

 work is, Mr. Tutt throughout calls attention to the gaps in our knowledge, 

 probably none of them very difficult to work out, and some of them, no 

 doubt, observed by many collectors, but from carelessness or thought- 

 lessness never recorded in print, where they would be available to the 

 Systematist ; these suggestions alone are enough to awaken the desire to 

 be up and doing and I can confidently say that a copy of this work 

 placed in the hands of every American collector will double the pages in 

 all of our Entomological Magazines in the course of a few years, and do 

 more to promote an abiding interest than any other book that has ever 

 been written on the subject. 



W. S. KEARFOTT. 



