i9°7» Reviews* 343 



INSECT LIFE. 



The Story of Insect Life. By W. Percivat, WESTEU,, F.L.S., 

 M.B O.TJ. With 138 illustrations from photographs, and 8 coloured 

 plates by E. J. Bedford. London : Robert Culley. Pp. 339. Price $s. 

 net. 



It cannot be denied that author, photographers, artist, and publisher 

 have conspired to make a most attractive book. Mr. Westell writes 

 pleasantly and clearly, arranging his material in seven chapters. First 

 comes a general introduction with short accounts of the structure, trans- 

 formations, and habits of insects and their relations with plants ; then 

 follow chapters on the Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera (sens. lat.)> 

 Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera, and Diptera. Technical 

 language is avoided as much as possible — even to the use of English 

 names for species of butterflies and beetles— and the volume is a typical 

 response to the modern demand for " science made easy.'' Unfortunately 

 Mr. Westell's work is disfigured by a number of errors which should 

 have been avoided with a little care. In the introductory chapter it is 

 stated that the head of an insect is usually formed of one "ring," and 

 that the abdomen may have as many as sixteen — the head apparently 

 having been deprived of segments that they may be added at the other 

 end of the insect! "Two jointed organs "—presumably the maxillary 

 palps— are said to belong to the mandibles of beetles. The "mouth 

 organs of a small beetle " (fig. 7) are evidently the chelicerse and palps of 

 a mite ; the " wing of a bluebottle fly " (fig. 126) is the hind wing of a 

 hymenopterous insect. Even where, in his structural descriptions, Mr. 

 Westell avoids positive errors, his statements are so vague as to give no 

 clear information to the reader. His accounts of habits, on the other 

 hand, are bright and entertaining. For the illustrations we have little 

 but praise ; Mr. Bedford's coloured plates are mostly excellent both in 

 design and reproduction. But why have the Neuroptera on Plate iv. 

 only two pairs of legs, and why are the May-fly's fore legs represented as 

 feelers ? The few line drawings are rough, but the numerous photo- 

 graphs are for the most part excellent, Miss Perceval-Wiseman's picture 

 of the newly emerged Tiger moth (fig. 105), and the large Vanessa on the 

 Iris blossom (fig. 86) being among the best of their kind. 



G. H, C. 



MEMORIES OF FAMOUS MEN. 



Memorials of Linnaeus. British Museum (Natural History) 

 Special Guides, No. 3. London, 1907. Price $d. 



This is a short descriptive account prepared by Dr. A. B. Rendle, of 

 the collection of portraits, autographs, specimens, &c, arranged by 

 order of the Trustees to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of 



