202 The Irish Naturalist. [September, 



A BOOK ON INSECTS. 



Insects: their Structure and Life. A Primer of Ento- 

 mology. By George H. Carpenter, b.sc, Loud. London, 

 1899 : J. M. Dent & Co. xii. & 404 pp. ; 183 figures. Price, \s. 6d. 

 net. 



Mr. Carpenter modestly prefaces his "Primer" by saying " Not one, 

 even of the many books made iu these days, is likely to be thought 

 superfluous by its author." Although publishers' lists are increasinglj- 

 flooded with "popular" works on Entomology, the present volume is 

 certainly not at all unnecessary, but will be the very thing that young 

 students of limited means have long been anxious to obtain, and 

 should stimulate the " mere collector " to regard his captures more 

 as material for morphological or biological investigations. There is not 

 another work — in the English language, at least— of similar size and inex- 

 pensiveness, which presents a general sketch of Entomology so exhaus- 

 tive and withal so lucid and interesting in its treatment. 



It is necessarily largely a compilation, but the selection of subjects 

 has been very judicious — scarcely a point of general interest having been 

 omitted— and the space devoted to each topic is fairly distributed. 

 There are one or two slight inaccuracies here and there, and there are 

 several points at which the captious critic could carp, but the reputa- 

 tion of the author will be an ample guarantee of its general accuracy, 

 and the debatable subjects have still many supporters on both sides. 



The work embraces six chapters, and is completed by a bibliography 

 and an index. The chapters are entitled as follows : — 

 I. The Form of Insects, pp. 1-83. 

 II. The Life-history of Insects, pp. 84-127. 



III. The Classification of Insects, pp. 128-159. 



IV. The Orders of Insects, pp. 160-280. 



V. Insects and their surroundings, pp. 281-343. 

 VI The Pedigree of Insects, pp. 344-378. 



The opening chapter is devoted to a general consideration of the 

 "Form" of Insects, the familiar Cockroach being selected as a type. 

 We of the human race are not sufficiently grateful to "Nature" for 

 having preserved to us an insect so little specialised, so easy of access, 

 so sufficiently numerous in individuals, and of so convenient a size for 

 examination. 



The account has evidently been largely drawn up from Miall and 

 Denny's classic monograph, modified and extended by a practical know- 

 ledge of the subject and a sagacious acquaintance with entomological 

 literature, particularly perhaps from Marlatt and Benton's papers in the 

 publications of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. After a general descrip- 

 tion of the external morphology, the nerves and sense organs are 

 discussed, followed by a resumd of our knowledge of the muscular, cir- 

 culatory, respiratory, aliinentarj", and reproductive systems. 



