334 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



KIRKALDY'S CATALOGUE OF THE HEMIPTERA : A PRE- 

 LIMINARY NOTE. 



BY J. R. DE LA TORRE BUENO, WHITE PLAINS, N. Y. 



I desire to bring to the notice of American entomologists, more 

 especially to that of our hemipterists, Kirkaldy's Catalogue of the 

 Hemiptera, which will shortly be published by F. L. Dames, of Berlin. 



It has been my privilege to read some of the proof-sheets, and I am 

 bound to say that in spite of all the discussion to which it will surely give 

 rise, the work will be indispensable to all systematic zoologists, on account 

 of the phylogenetic matter that enriches it. I reserve to myself the 

 pleasure of going fully into the contents of each volume on its appearance. 

 The first volume is promised to us shortly. But in the meantime I may 

 say that it is far more than a mere list of names, since it gives much 

 biological data and brings all synonymies down to date, clearing up many 

 obscure points. I believe that since Stal's Enumej-atio Hemipteronim no 

 work of a similar nature has covered the field so completely, excepting, 

 perhaps, Wytsman's "Genera Insectorum," which, however, is different in 

 scope and plan. 



The GENERA OF THE TORTRICID^E AND THEIR TYPES. By C. H. 



Fernald, A. M., Ph. D., published by the author, Amherst, Mass. 



Signatures issued as dated February 21st to May 29th, 1908 ; issued 



complete June 4th, 1908 ; 68 pages. 

 The fathers of entomology who did such conspicuous work in the 

 last quarter of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century, 

 usually omitted to designate any certain species as the type of or typical 

 of their genera. Their conception of a genus was also based upon 

 superficial characters, such as the pattern and ornamentation of the 

 wings, and it was naturally found, when the present systematic structural 

 scheme was adopted, based upon venation and other fixed characters, that 

 in many cases under one genus were many different structures. 



This has been the cause of endless confusion and changing of generic 

 names, especially during the past twenty-five years, when the systematists 

 in different groups have endeavoured to live up to the severe letter of 

 the law of priority. The confusion has been only increased by the 



September, 1908 



