THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 109 



A PROTECTED BUTTERFLY. 



We are accustomed to reading about certain species being 

 protected from their enemies by nature owing to a resemblance to 

 other insects that are distasteful; but Parnas.sius apollo now enjoys 

 the unique distinction of being the only insect in the world whose 

 life is guarded against his most ruthless destroyer — man. According 

 to an interesting item in the Entomologist (London) for October, 

 1913, Vol. XLVI, p. 289. the capture of this butterfly has been tor- 

 bidden throughout the German Empire by order of the Govern- 

 ment. Owing to overcollecting, the species is said to have been 

 exterminated in the mountains of Silesia and its existence is threat- 

 ened elsewhere. It is not stated how long the close season is to 

 last, but is to be hoped that in the meantime the market price 

 will not be increased enough to warrant wholesale poaching, and 

 that the men who secured the legislation will be rewarded by seeing 

 this beautiful butterfly again brightening up the landscape it 

 formerly had a place in. 



A. F. Winn. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



A Revision of the Ants of the Genus Formica (Linne) Mayr. 

 By William Morton Wheeler.— Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 

 Harvard College. Vol. LIII, No. 10. Published Oct. 1913. 

 186 pages. 



This revision of the boreal genus Formica by the eminent ant 

 specialist, Dr. W. M. Wheeler, is sure to receive a hearty welcome. 

 In it the author gives extensive descriptions of, and notes upon, 

 all the known New World forms, now numbering 93, several of 

 which are new, consisting of 31 species, 19 subspecies and 43 

 varieties, and brief descriptions of, and notes upon, the 53 Old 

 World forms. 



Seven groups are recognized. — (1) The Sanguinea group, con- 

 taining thirteen forms of the palearctic and nearctic slave-maker, 

 sanguinea, and six other species; (2) The Rufa group, containing 

 eleven forms of the palearctic and nearctic rufa (all the nearctic 



