15^ The Irish Natniatisf. Augiist, 



brilliant males and dull females are common. The discussion of social 

 life among insects is one of the most suggestive sections in the book, but 

 in the survey of insect metamorphosis generally, while attention is called 

 to the increasing difference between larva and imago in the higher order 

 of insects, there is no suggestion as to how this divergence has come 

 about. The claim for the Collembola as the ancestors of sucking insects 

 generally will not be admitted by modern students of that group. 



The illustrations in the book are somewhat uneven. There are a 

 number of photographs from specimens in the Manchester Museum, 

 many of which are good; in some cases — the caterpillar of the Cabbage 

 Butterfly for example — it should have been easy to procure live rather 

 than dead specimens. Most of the live drawings are rough in execution 

 and reproduction. The centipede described as a Lithotius is really a Sco- 

 lopendrid. 



Such blemishes are, however, slight when we consider the admirable 

 plan and felicitous style of the book as a whole. Dr. Gamble seems to 

 have written for what is called the "popular " reader. Such cannot fail to 

 derive help and instruction from the book. But the earnest student and 

 teacher of zoological science will find the work truly inspiring. 



G. H. C. 



A STUDY OF THE QUEEN ANT. 



Anatomic du Corselet et Histolyse des Muscles Vibrateurs, 

 apres le Vol Nuptial chez la Reine de la Fourml Lasius 

 nigei*. Par Charlks Janet. Pp. 149 + 20, pis. 13 and 45 text 

 figures. Limoges : Ducourtieux et Gout. 

 This beautiful memoir forms the twenty-sixth fascicule of M Janet's 

 monumental " Etudes sur les P'ourmis, les Guepes et les Abeilles.'' Like 

 its predecessors it is characterized b}- wonderful minuteness of detail in 

 its descriptions, beauty in its drawings, and distinction in its style. This 

 author combines, in a manner too rare among. modern naturalists, the 

 power of elaborate histological research with the faculty of patient obser- 

 vation in the field. 



It is well known that a young queen ant loses her wings after the 

 nuptial flight, either herself removing the now useless organs, or suffer- 

 ing their removal by the workers. The aiithor believes that help in the 

 operation by the workers is unusual except in artificial nests. In this 

 volume M. Janet traces the degeneration undergone by the muscles of 

 flight, accompanying this loss of the wings, until the firm bundles of 

 muscular fibres become replaced by loose columns of fatty tissue. 



Before entering on the histological details that form the bulk of his 

 work, M. Janet gives some interesting notes on the habits of ants as 

 regards pairing and nest-founding. Young winged males and females 

 may emerge from their native nests on fine summer days, to return again. 

 But the nuptial flight generally involves final separation from the old 

 home. Occasionally pairing takes place on the ground, but usually in 



