REVIEWS. 49 



RECENT WORKS ON THE DIPTERA OF NORTHERN EUROPE. 



1. ZETTERSTEDT, INSECTA LAPPONICA, ETC. 1 Tom. Folio; Lipsise, 1840. 



2. ZETTERSTEDT, DIPTERA SCANDINAVIA, ETC. 11 Tomi, 8vo. Lundse, 



1842-1852. 



3. STAGER, SYSTEMATISE FORTEGNELSE OVER DE i DANMARK FUNDNE DIP- 



TERA, samt DANSKE DOLICHOPODER, o.s.v. i Kroyers Naturhistorisk 

 Tidsskrift, Iste Raekke, lste-4de Bind, 1837-1844. 



4. STENHAMM AR, FORSOK TILL GRUPPERING OCH REVISION AF DE SVENSKA 



EPHYDRIN.E, i Kongl. Sv. Vet. Akademiens Handlingar for aar 1843. 



5. WAHLBERG, | NyA gvENSKA D IPTERA) j detsamma, och Oefversigt af K. 

 BOHEMANN f Sv. Vet. Akad. Fbrhandlingar, aatskUliga aar. 



THE extent of the field which Entomology appropriates, even since the 

 Crustacea and Arachnida have been detached from it, has made its literature 

 already voluminous, though barely of the growth of a century, and promises 

 an increase in proportion for a long time to come. Apart from the com- 

 mon domains of anatomy and physiology, the history and classification of 

 its countless species, probably outnumbering all the other denizens of the 

 land, are enough to occupy Reaumurs and Degeers, if such there should be, 

 yet unborn. Probably, in consequence, a somewhat partial and one-sided 

 character has been impressed upon the science with most who have pur- 

 sued it with predilection ; so that the results to be looked for from the study 

 of the endlessly-diversified, yet closely-linked, modifications of that one well- 

 marked type of organization, have scarcely yet redounded to the benefit of 

 biological science in general. And not only has Entomology been treated 

 as if it were an independent branch, but the attention both of collectors 

 and systematists has been much confined to one or two orders out of the 

 whole. Indeed, reasons may be easily found for the preference so generally 

 given to the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera; and the classification of the latter 

 has now arrived at such a stage, that the study of it may be considered as 

 a preliminary training for that of the other orders. But, this point attained, 

 we are glad to see increasing attention of late directed towards the some- 

 time slighted clearwings of collectors, as preparing the way for broader 

 views of the class of insects, in itself as a whole, and in its relations to 

 the rest of animated nature. Each of the other orders, meantime, may 



VOL. II. E 



