THE 



NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 



JSk&itfos. 



Insecta Britannica. Lepidoptera Tineina. ByH. T. Stainton. London: 

 Lovell Reeve, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden. 1854. Price 25s. 

 Ten Plates. 



This volume is the third in a series of publications put forth, under the 

 immediate sanction and superintendence of the President and Council of 

 the Entomological Society, with a view to producing ultimately a complete 

 series of works on British Entomology ; introducing all the latest disco- 

 veries, and improvements in nomenclature, &c, up to the period of 

 publication ; while, in order to render them as popular and instructive as 

 possible, general information on the habits and economy of the species are 

 introduced as far as practicable. The present volume is devoted to the 

 Tineina, one of the five groups of Microlepidoptera ; and the execution of 

 the work has been entrusted to Mr. Stainton, a naturalist eminently quali- 

 fied for the task, not only by his extensive acquaintance with the subject, 

 resulting from laborious personal research, but, perhaps, no less by a 

 genuine hearty love for the beautiful subject of his investigation, which 

 beams out in almost every page of the book before us. He is as enthu- 

 siastic as he is diligent, and the result is according to his deserts. 



Of all the groups of Lepidoptera, perhaps none are more interesting than 

 the Tineina ; and few, if any, so far from being thoroughly understood. 

 The peculiarity of their forms in numerous instances, the gorgeousness of 

 their colouring, the wonderful beauty of the pencilled markings on their 

 wings, the fanciful and grotesque position in which many of them delight 

 to stand, the variety and singularity of their transformations, all these 

 and other characteristics render them uncommonly attractive ; while, on 

 the other hand, their minuteness, the pains taken, and the expertness 

 manifested by both larvae and perfect insects in concealing themselves, or 

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