REVIEWS. 81 



THE BUTTERFLIES OF GREAT BRITAIN. By J. 0. Westwood, F.L.S., &c. 

 With coloured Plates. 8vo. London: W. S. Orr and Co., Pater- 

 noster-row. 1855. Price 15s. 



WE have read of two good hermits who lived together, and never fell out, 

 until, weary of being so unlike the rest of mankind, they agreed together to 

 have a quarrel as other men had ; but, being unused to the thing, no better 

 way occurred to these simple-hearted men than to place a stone between 

 them, and for one to say, " This is mine," and the other, " Nay, it is 

 mine f and so they hoped to get up a quarrel. The present work bids 

 fair to rival the reputation of the stone in the legend, though it is not the 

 ownership, but the age, of the book which is the grave subject of debate. 

 Mr. Bladon, on its appearance, rises up and says, " This is an old book ;" 

 and Mr. Westwood says, " Nay, it is a new book ;" and so they have got 

 up a very pretty dispute for the columns of the " Athenaeum." The end 

 of the hermits' quarrel may not be inapropos " Well, brother, if it be 

 thine, then take it ;" " and so," adds the historian, " they could not quarrel, 

 having been so long accustomed to peace." Whether the fraternity of 

 entomologists be as peaceful naturally as that of the hermits, let those who 

 sit in the seat of the judges decide. The joke of the matter is, that in 

 this case the dispute was settled ere it was begun. " It is an old book," 

 says Mr. Bladon. " The proprietor of the work, entitled ' British Butter- 

 flies and their Transformations,' and ' British Moths and their Transfor- 

 mations,' " says Mr. Westwood, in the first words of his preface, ft hav- 

 ing determined to re-issue the former," &c. One calls it an old book, the 

 other a re-issue. What are they fighting about, then ? " If it be old, 

 brother, why, then, it is old." " Nay, brother, if it be a re-issue, then it 

 is a re-issue." Much ado about nothing. The truth is, it is a new edition, 

 considerably improved, with certain valuable additions, and the results of 

 the experience of the years that have elapsed since its first appearance. At 

 the same time, in order to reduce the bulk and price of fhe work, many 

 omissions have been made, but not of " any important or necessary infor- 

 mation." We commend the story of the hermits to the consideration of 

 the combatants, and retire ourselves from the lists, with the single remark, 



VOL. II. Gr 



