68 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



It is a quarto volume of 565 pages, and is illustrated with 50 

 splendid plates and 440 text illustrations. Most of the plates .are 

 coloured, and it speaks Avell for the author and his staff that these 

 profuse, and on the whole, excellent illustrations are mostly original. 



The work covers a very wide field, and may be divided into 

 two parts. The first nine chapters deal with insects in general, 

 their zoological status, structure and classification, their habits and 

 the laws which govern them ; and the tenth and eleventh chapters 

 deal with pests in general and \ arious means of control, 

 specially adapted to local conditions. Then follow general de- 

 scriptions of different insects classified as pests of crops and grain, 

 as household pests and as carriers of disease, and the extent to 

 which some are beneficial and useful. One chapter is devoted to 

 a few other animals and birds, both beneficial and injurious. An 

 important section, and one which will be \aluable to its readers, 

 is a long list of the commonly-grown plants and crops, with the 

 names of seme 800 insects attacking them, and a list of allied 

 plants grouped under natural orders for reference when studying 

 polyphagous insects. 



The second and main part of the book is taken up with a 

 study of the orde^"s of insects, dealing mainly with injurious forms 

 under the headings of references, distribution in South India, life- 

 history, food plants, economic status and means of control. This 

 represents an enormous amount of information condensed to a 

 systematic and readily available fotnl, and the profuse illustrations 

 are intended to facilitate the tracing out of any particular insects 

 which may prove injurious. The fact that many of the life-his- 

 tories are classed as "not worked out" should be a stimulus to en- 

 tomologists in India. The book ends with a complete index. 



The author is to be congratulated on a stupendous work which 

 he confesses was undertaken unexpectedly and executed largely by 

 the exertions of the Madras Department of Entomology in the 

 short space of two years. As a handy and popular work on insects, 

 the book should prove of great value to planters and those in- 

 terested in entomology, and the low price of six rupees (two dollars) 

 places it within the reach of most people. 



G. J. Spencer. 



Mailed Febniar\- llili. 1915. 



