128 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



accurately coloured examples, natural size, of every species and 

 many varieties, toi:elher with carefully executed drawings of the 

 eggs, caterpillars, chrysalids, and food-plants of the most important. 

 The text, as we should expect from the authorship, is carefully 

 and accurately written, and altogether there is a wonderful amount 

 of information given in such a small compass. Of the figures, 

 which are most excellent examples of the three-coloured process, 

 we can only speak in terms of the highest praise. The present 

 volume deals with the Families Sphingidae to Noctuidae, and is 

 to be followed by a second series, devoted to the remainder of the 

 " Macrolepidoptera." It would be difficult to imagine a more 

 charming gift-book for the schoolboy naturalist, and we can 

 cordially recommend it as a most beautiful, convenient, and 

 reliable account of our native Moths. 



Wild Bees, Wasps, and Ants, and other Stinging Insects. 

 By Edward Saunders, F.R.S. London : George Routledge & Sons, 

 Ltd. Price 3s. 6d. 



This little book, by our recognised authority on the Insects of 

 which it treats, consists of a series of short essays, "only for the 

 non-scientific." Since, however, reliable information on the habits of 

 the Aculeate Hymenoptera is not easy to find, we venture to think 

 that the book appeals also to the scientific reader who, though not 

 a specialist, desires to know something of this exceptionally interest- 

 ing group of Insects. The essays are good and full of accurate 

 information, though perhaps a little unequal. The best, perhaps, 

 are those towards the end of the book, on "The Distribution, 

 Rarity, or Abundance of various Species," on "The Development 

 of Insects from the Egg," and on " Colour." The book is embellished 

 by four plates, executed in the best " three-colour " style, from 

 drawings which are unusually beautiful and accurate. 



