10 RK VIEWS. 



" Library edition" of it accordingly. One of our friends would respectfully 

 suggest to the Editor that when the Annual reaches perfection (and is thus 

 the greatest marvel of the age), he should publish it in Royal Octavo, with 

 ample margins, and figures of every species ! 



Another enigma to our short-sighted views is the actual or probable use 

 of parading such a show of " names of British Entomologists," while it is 

 confessed that a great number of them are only schoolboys. Our friend* 

 the Editor, as well as divers other leading men, constantly complain of the 

 carnal motives — covetousness, desire of notoriety, &c. — which influence many 

 of "the brethren ;" but is not this the very way to encourage those false in- 

 centives ? Would it not be better to have our ranks even fewer than they 

 are, than be recruited by mere aspirants after vain-glory ? 



It is our firm belief that a work like that of Kirby and Spence, which 

 silently and unobserved developes the really innate — not acquired — tastes 

 of the young for the subject of its charming details, has done more good, 

 and will yet do more good, than all the periodical publications of the pre- 

 sent day put together. Why, in the latter the names of the collectors are 

 now of nearly as frequent occurrence to the eye as the names of the species 

 alluded to ! 



And hence we are glad to see Mr. Stainton turn his attention to pro- 

 ductions like the " Educational Sheet of Butterflies,'' of which a copy has 

 been sent us. The woodcuts are admirable, and the details judiciously 

 compiled. 



The plate in the Annual, too, is very good, indeed, this year. This number 

 also contains some papers of a superior class. Dr. Hagen's monograph of 

 the British Dragonflies will be found a great boon to those who wish to 

 extend their researches beyond the "fashionable" limits of the two favourite 

 orders ; and Mr. Janson's interesting discoveries in the ant-hills will open 

 a new field in the already well-worked department of Coleopterous re- 

 search. Among the beetles he announces fifty-four new species added to 

 the British lists this year — a fact that will startle many, until they have 

 perceived that a large number of the novelties were lying in the arcana of 

 Mr. Walton's collection, and unheard of till the recent publication of his 

 Catalogue of the Curculionidae. The Diptera have gained a slight acknow- 

 ledgment this year, in the form of Notes and Queries by Mr. Wilson 

 Saunders ; and, on the whole, we are disposed to agree with Mr. Stainton 

 in thinking that Entomology is making some progress, though we are so 

 strongly opposed to the stimulus of anything like hothouse pressure. 



