286 THE CA.NADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Entomology, with special reference to its Biological and Economic 

 Aspects. — By Justus Watson Folsom, Sc. D., Instructor in Entomology 

 at the University of Illinois. Octavo, pp. 485, five plates and 300 

 other illustrations. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut Street, 

 Philadelphia. (Price $3.00.) 

 Of recent years a number of text-books, more or less complete, have 

 been placed before tlie public, but none has been prepared with the object 

 that the author of this new work has in view. The Insect Book, the 

 Butterfly and Moth Books, Comstock's and Kellogg's Manuals, all treat 

 of insects largely from the systematic standpoint, detailing their informa- 

 tion according to famihes. Packard's valuable " Text-book" reviews our 

 knowledge of structure and development. Smith's Entomology is our 

 most complete economic book. But the vast array of facts and the many 

 theoretical problems that have appeared in various publications concerning 

 the other phases of insect study, have never before been accumulated and 

 digested in any American text-book. 



Dr. Folsom is a teacher, and has prepared his book principally to fulfil 

 the requirements of certain college courses in entomology, which have not 

 hitherto possessed a comprehensive text-book. Accordingly, the Classifi- 

 cation of Insects, which has been so fully treated in the above-mentioned 

 works, serves but for a short introductory chapter, and is followed by two 

 long chapters, occupying about a third of the volume, on Anatomy and 

 Physiology, and Development. When the student has mastered this 

 portion of the book, his laboratory work will have afforded him a sufficient 

 acquaintance with a large numiber of typical insects to enable him to 

 appreciate the remainder, which is the really distinctive part of the work. 

 To the collector and general reader of the Canadian Entomologist, who 

 may not have access to libraries, or have had the advantage of a college 

 course, but who do know the haunts and habits of the insects they search 

 for, this portion of the work will prove an inspiration. The titles of tlie 

 chapters, which alone we give, should certainly stimulate a desire to 

 penetrate further and learn the impartial consideration that the author has 

 given to the problems of entomology. The following are the subjects of 

 chapters 4 to 13 : Adaptations of Aquatic Insects, Colour and Coloration, 

 Adaptive Coloration, Origin of Adaptations and of Species, Insects in 

 relation to Plants, Insects in relation to other Animals, Interrelations of 

 Insects, Insect Behaviour, Distribution, Insects in relation to Man. 



