THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 311 



information contained within it on the life histories and economic 

 relations of the beetles that are more or less destructive to Indian 

 forests. 



Some idea of the \astness of the subject may be gained from 

 the author's statement, quoted from J. S. Gamble (Manual of 

 Indian Timbers) that "the Indian forests contain some 5,000 

 different species of trees, shrubs, climbers and bamboos"; for 

 here, as elsewhere, the number of species of insects corresponds 

 more or less closely upon that of the plants on which they feed. 



The material for the present work' was chiefly gathered by 

 the author since 1898 while acting in the capacity of Imperial 

 Forest Zoologist and Member of the Forest Research Institute, 

 Dehra Dan, India. 



The first five chapters deal w^ith the more general phases of 

 the subject, such as the distribution of forest insects in India 

 (Chap. I), the methods by which the presence of insect pests in 

 the forest can be ascertained, the general methods of control and 

 the characteristics of the order Coleoptera. The special part 

 treating of the various families and species of beetles, which are 

 arranged according to Lefroy's Indian Insect Life, comprises the 

 remaining 27 chapters. It deals with a very large number of 

 species, about most of which very little is known; but the life 

 histories of not a few of the more destructive species have been 

 worked out by the author, and their economic relations, methods 

 of control, etc., are given in considerable detail. 



A good many of the species noticed are of no economic im- 

 portance, all species showing any definite relation to trees or tree- 

 products being included, on account of the necessity , on the part 

 of the forester, of being able to recognize such species and distinguish 

 them from the truly injurious forms. 



There are no keys, but descriptions of all the species dealt 

 with are given and a very large proportion are figured. Unfor- 

 tunately a great many new species are described, an undesirable 

 feature in an economic treatise. This was perhaps difficult to 

 avoid, however, in the present work, as it is possible that the 

 publication of so many new species in the regular journals might 

 have caused serious delay in the issue of the book. 



