122 The Irish Naturalist. June,. 



Several pairs of young we found near empty nests, concealed 

 and motionless under the leaves of weeds ; these were sturdy 

 little fellows, well covered in thick down, and just started on 

 the first survey of their surroundings. Thirt5'-one of the nests 

 contained three eggs each, and four nests had four eggs in 

 each. It is to be hoped that the success attending the efforts 

 of the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds may be 

 imitated in other parts of the country, and that it ma}^ be 

 the means of inducing the Roseate Tern, which formerlj^ bred 

 abundantly at Rockabill and which still yearly breeds on the 

 Welsh coast, to become once more a summer resident. 



Dubhn. 



REVIEWS. 



POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



The Insect Book. By W. Percivai, WrsteUo F.L.S. Illustrated 

 with Photographs by R. P. Misson. Londou : John Lane, 1908. 

 Price 3^. net. 



This little volume is the latest addition to the " County Handbook " 

 series, and the first in the series treating of insect life. In the preface 

 the author points out that " The Insect Book " is intended for the use 

 of beginners in the study of entomology, and to encourage " those 

 willing to learn something of the ways of the insect creation." The 

 author adopts the faunistic method in the arrangement of his subject, a 

 method which has some advantages in a popular work of this kind, as 

 its readers may be supposed to have no knowledge of the classification 

 of insects. After an introductor}- chapter on the wonderful variety of 

 structure and habits of insects, the author describes some of the common 

 and more interesting forms of insect life of the garden, the water-side, 

 the woodland, &c., and a chapter on household insects concludes the 

 book. 



In the chapter on garden insects some well-known, useful, and 

 injurious insects are described. A reference on page 37 to the Great 

 Water-beetle, Dyliscus marginalis, and its allies, is likely to convey a 

 wrong impression, as the reader is warned against the chance of 

 confusing the " two kinds of these beetles to be found by the water 

 side." AVe presume the second kind, referred to as the Great Brown 

 Water Beetle, is the common Colynibctes fusctis. The chapter on house- 

 hold insects is mostly given up to an account of the Common House-fly. 

 " The Insect Book " may be recommended to beginners in the nature- 

 study of insect life, as it contains a large amount of trustworthy infor- 

 mation conveyed in a pleasant manner. The book is well printed, and 

 the great majority of the insects dsalt with are excellently illustrated. 



J. N. H. 



