THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 259 



literature is scattered through so many periodicals that it has 

 become a difficult matter, even for the specialist, to keep in touch 

 with all that is being written on the subject. 



A comprehensive textbook of medical entomology has there- 

 fore been urgently needed and the appearance of the monumental 

 work by Captains Patton and Cragg will be welcomed not only by 

 entomologists but also by medical practitioners in tropical lands 

 and by students of protozoology, with which subject medical ento- . 

 mology is so closely associated. 



This voluminous work extends over 764 pages and includes 

 no less than 89 full-page illustrations. Its bulk, however, is not 

 the result of diffuseness, for the diction is clear and concise, but 

 of the vast quantity of information it contains. Considering the 

 wide field it covers it is not too large for a useful work of reference. 



Perhaps the most striking feature of the book is the large 

 amount of original matter both in the text and the illustrations, 

 which are uniformly excellent. Much space is devoted to the 

 anatomy and physiology of blood-sucking insects, particularly to 

 the structure and mechanism of the mouth-parts, and to the de- 

 scription of methods of breeding and laboratory technique. 



The general features of insect anatomy and physiology are 

 illustrated by reference to the Diptera, particularly the various 

 blood-sucking types, a number of which are described in consider- 

 able detail, but none of the orders that contain species of interest 

 from the medical standpoint are neglected, each order forming the 

 subject of a chapter of its own, except the Diptera, which include 

 two chapters, in addition to the one in which the anatomy and 

 physiology are treated. 



In each chapter the subject is discussed from every standpoint, 

 the anatomy, taxonomy, relation to disease and bionomics, all re- 

 ceiving adequate attention. Valuable information is also given on 

 methods of collecting, dissecting and preserving and each chapter 

 concludes with a careful bibliography. The analytical keys to the 

 genera and species have been taken from the best sources available. 



The last two chapters deal respectively with laboratory tech- 

 nique and a general discussion of the relation of Arthropods to 

 their parasites. 



Altogether the authors are to be congratulated on the splendid 



