CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 331 



details be illustrated, requires many years of patient investigation. 

 We regret, therefore, to be obliged to remark that the observation* 

 respecting the Natural History of Great Witley are very meagre. 

 For this we can hardly blame the reverend gentlemen who under- 

 took the topography of Witley, but surely the council, who dele- 

 gated to them this task, should have associated with them some 

 zealous collector, who would have filled up the hiatus they have 

 left. For, although anxious to avoid censure, what will, what catty 

 be said to such a paragraph as the following, issuing under the aus- 

 pices of a Natural History Society 9 " It would be useless to en- 

 ter upon the minute but spacious field of inquiry which the insect 

 tribes present, as we are not aware that this parish can supply any 

 novelty to gratify the curiosity of the entomological student." — 

 ]). 15. That the worthy and reverend authors of the fasciculus are 

 not " aware" of any peculiar insect inhabiting Witley we admit, 

 but that the inquiry would be " useless" we altogether deny. It 

 might, perhaps, be a matter of curiosity to know if Acherontia alro- 

 pas be found in Witley or not, but it might be very useful to ascer- 

 tain whether the Elm trees there are attacked by Scolytus destruc- 

 torj and what insects are most injurious to the Oaks. Space forbids 

 our suggesting other things, but we very much doubt if a week's 

 actual investigation would not supply something " to gratify the 

 curiosity of the entomological student." The Glowworm is, how- 

 ever, mentioned as abounding in a particular spot, and this incau- 

 tious paragraph follows, which of course could not have been penned 

 by a practical entomologist. " There is perhaps a greater distinc- 

 tion between the male and female of this class than can be elsewhere 

 found in the whole range of Zoology. The male is a small dusky 

 ScarabceuSj without luminous power or other peculiarity." Now 

 all this is decidedly wrong, as every entomologist knows, and we 

 therefore again regret that an avowed publication of this Society 

 should be below the usual high-water mark of scientific language 

 in any respect. There are many insects, the sexes of which are 

 more dissimilar and would be less easily recognized than even the 

 Glowworm, as several of the Mutilliles. and the apterous females of 

 certain moths. Again, the Glowworm, is not a Scarahceus at all, 

 and the male of the Glowworm certainly has two faintly luminous 

 spots on its abdomen. The authors of the fasciculus give us a list 

 of the migratory birds visiting Witley, in which they include the 

 Grey Shrike, Lanius excuhilor. 'J hey state that during the sum- 

 mer months this kind is invariably present in the parish, to the 

 number of " perhaps a dozen ! ! No account, however, is given of 

 the habits or nidificution of the bird, and we almost fear some mis- 

 take, particularly as the more common Lanius coUurio is altogether 

 omitted. Surely, too, the Whin Chat (Saxicola rvbeiraj, the 

 Spring Oatear (Budytes vernaj, the Tree Redstart ( Phcenicura 

 alhifrons), and the Fern Nightjar (Vccifcrator Europseus), must 

 visit Witley, yet they are altogether omitted by the reverend writers. 



