THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 113 



Butterflies from China, Japan and Corea. By John Henry Leech, 

 B. A., F. L. S., &c. In parts, 4to, 642 pp., 43 Plates; R. H. Porter, 

 London, Dec, 1892 — Jan., 1894. 

 The fifth and last part of the letter-prefs of Mr. Leech's work has just 

 been issued, and is accompanied by the statement that five plates of 

 Hesperiidas and a supplemental plate will shortly follow, completing the 

 work. Presumably, these plates will be accompanied by the letter-press 

 of the title page, preface, and index, with which the work will be ready 

 for the binder. As to the typography of the book, it must be said that it 

 leaves nothing to be desired. The paper is luxuriously heavy; the type 

 is beautifully clear and large ; and the text conspicuously free from errors 

 of a minor character, such as occasionally appear even in the most care- 

 fully edited works. The scholarship and taste of Mr, Leech and his 

 accomplished secretary, Mr. Richard South, are reflected in the execution 

 of the literary portions of the work. The plates, which are from drawings 

 by William Purkiss, and are executed by chromo-lithography by William 

 Greve, of Berlin, are without doubt the finest examples of this form of 

 work which have as yet graced any similar publication. While a prefer- 

 ence is by many accorded to figures lithographed and afterwards coloured 

 by hand, and the most exquisitely perfect illustrations have been pro- 

 duced in this way, and while the results of chromo-lithography as ordin- 

 arily employed in scientific illustration have generally been more or less 

 marred by striking crudities, these plates before us are most marvellous 

 illustrations of the capabilities of the chromo-lithographic process, when 

 employed by those who are masters of the art. The plates are almost 

 perfect facsimiles in form and colour of Mr. Purkiss's exquisite drawings, 

 and the student of Chinese and Japanese lepidoptera may well rejoice 

 upon having at his command such an infallible guide to specific identity 

 as is found in these beautiful illustrations. The only adverse criticism 

 which the mechanical and typographical execution of the work admits is 

 on the score of the bulk of the letter-press which will necessarily be 

 bound up in one volume. The heavy paper employed results in the pro- 

 duction of a book which as a manual of reference promises to be some- 

 what uncomfortably " fat." 



The title of the book indicates the consciousness of the author that 

 in our present state of knowledge any effort to deal with the lepidop- 

 terous fauna of the great regions covered by this work must at best be 

 attended by imperfections. There are wide areas in China in which little 



