292 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



A List of the Butterflies of Sumatra, with especial reference to the 

 species occurring in the north-east of the Island. By L. de Nice'ville 

 and Hofrath Dr. L. Martin. Calcutta. Reprinted from the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1895. 

 This list of seven hundred and fifty-six species of butterflies taken in 

 a limited portion only of the great Island of Sumatra, gives one some 

 idea of the wealth of the insect fauna in tropical regions. In a very 

 interesting introduction the authors give a brief description of the Island, 

 which is nearly as large as France and is bisected by the equator, and 

 relate the difficulties that have to be surmounted in the formation of a 

 collection of its butterflies, which can only be effected by employing 

 natives, who have first to be taught and trained for the purpose.. Dr. 

 Martin lived for thirteen years on the Island and has thus been enabled 

 to add very interesting notes on the distribution, scarcity or rarity, 

 habits, season of occurrence, etc., of a large number of species. One 

 may, therefore, oi)en the list anywhere and find not a mere record of 

 names, but highly interesting details regarding the butterflies. As might 

 naturally be expected, the preparatory stages of the majority of the 

 species are as yet unknown. 



A List of the Butterflies of Sikhim, by Lionel de Nice'ville, F. E. S., 

 etc. Calcutta : from the Gazetteer of Sikhim. Printed at the Bengal 

 Secretariat Press. 

 Probably no part of the great British Empire of India and its 

 tributary States has been so fully explored by the collectors of butterflies 

 as the country of Sikhim, which includes the famous health resort of 

 Darjeeling, about 7,000 feet above the sea, on the slopes' of the Eastern 

 Himalayas. Consequently the author is able to record in this list no 

 less than six hundred and thirty-one species, which he considers a near 

 approach to the maximum number that can be discovered. Certainly it 

 is a goodly number, and one hard to be realized by a dweller in these 

 northern and much less luxuriant regions. And what splendid creatures 

 they are, with their gorgeous colouring and infinite variety of shapes and 

 hues. Nearly fifty species of Papilios alone are recorded, and more than 

 one hundred and fifty Lycsenidie, the greater number of which belong to 

 genera that are entirely unknown to us here. 



