336 REVIEWS OP NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



membrane into a thicker fluid, and in all such cases, as circumstances may 

 happen, will there be an inflow termed Endosmose, or an outflow, Exosmose, and 

 which depends upon electrical agency. So in the cases of plants, he supposes 

 that the spongioles of the roots contain a thicker fluid than that they imbibe, 

 and that, by a similar action to the one above mentioned, it is forced upwards. 

 But this interesting question is still unsettled, and its causes are as little satis- 

 factorily shown as those influencing the descent of the pulp. — W. R. S., Doncaster, 

 Aug. 11, 1837- [^Further observations will be published on this subject in our 

 next. — Ed.] 



REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



A Guide to an Arrangement _ of British Insects : being a catalogue of all the 

 named species hitherto discovered in Great Britain and Ireland. By John 

 Curtis, F.L.S., &c, &c. Second edition, greatly enlarged. London : Pigot and 

 Co., Fleet-Street, 1837. 



This is the latest and best catalogue of native insects extant. It has evidently 

 been compiled with great care and labour ; and the entomologist in possession of 

 the first edition will quickly find that the " greatly enlarged," on the title-page 

 of the present impression, is not a mere catchpenny. Not the least important 

 improvement is the addition of the alphabetical index of genera, the want of 

 which we have often felt in the previous edition. Every student is aware of the 

 very large number of genera in British Entomology, and this may frequently 

 prove a stumbling-block even to the proficient in the study, without a well- 

 arranged index to the genera. 



The author has the following considerations in view in offering his Guide to 

 British entomologists : — 



" 1st. It will enable them to arrange their cabinets systematically. 



" 2ndly. They may mark off their own insects so as to know instantly 

 whether they have a species or not, by which means their desiderata will be 

 shown ; and this the author is persuaded will enable students to enrich their 

 cabinets, by mutual exchanges, to an extent which could not be accomplished 

 by any other means. 



" 3rdly. It will form labels for cabinets. 



" 4thly. It will be a systematic index to the British Entomology, a reference 

 being given to every genus already illustrated, and may easily be continued by 

 those who are desirous of completing it. 



