THE CJLNADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 211 



He gives directions' for collecting and preserving as well as for breeding, 

 and although he gives few details, he appears to have succeeded in 

 breeding JV. glaiica^ but does not describe the nymphal stages. He claims 

 that they have six moults, one on emerging from the ovum, which I have 

 observed in N. iindulata. But I deem this first moult merely the casting 

 off of the amnion, and not a true moult of an outgrown skin. The French 

 author has solved the food problem by giving the nymphs young mosquito 

 larvse, which I also have found suitable. The remainder of his paper 

 covers nothing not heretofore known and pointed out in detail in this 

 country. 



Now, as to the second count. Certain Hemipterists appear to 

 consider a proper understanding and use of synonymy a purely unneces- 

 sary luxury. Therefore we find in much work that decidedly erroneous 

 names are employed, both generic and specific. Furthermore, old errors 

 are cheerfully adopted and popularized, and no question is ever made as 

 to the work of certain authors, who are very Mohammeds of Hemipter- 

 ology, and whose dictum is final. To-day Hemipterology is as much 

 neglected as it was fifty years ago. There are perhaps some half-dozen 

 workers who keep it alive ; but outside of these the others who take 

 interest in this branch of the science are apparently willing to let some 

 one else do the work. 



As to the philosophical side of the science, since Schjodte, who has 

 attempted to place the classification of the Order on a firm foundation of 

 phylogeny? Renter, Bergroth, Stal, but principally the former. To-day, 

 Kirkaldy is working in this direction, and he is proposing changes of so 

 radical a nature that before they are accepted a complete readjustment 

 of our ideas becomes imperative. And even then such new conceptions 

 of relationships may obtain that his scheme may be rendered obsolete. 

 But to-day a system of classification which lumps together such diverse 

 forms as the Nepidce, with the other so called Cryptocerata, is decidedly 

 in need of reform along more scientific lines. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Os CULICIDEOS DO BRAZIL, PELO Dr. AnTONIO GoNCALVES PeRYASSU. 



Trabalho do Instituto de Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Typographia 

 Leuzinger, 190S. 



This interesting work on the mosquitoes of Brazil contains over 400 

 pages, with 26 plates. It is written wholly in Portuguese, which will make 



