242 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



sent to myself, and proved to be one of the Longicorns — Acan- 

 thocinus cedilis, Z., the Timberman Beetle. The antenna; were 

 fully three times the length of the body and in perfect condition, so 

 that it was evidently a male. — Wm. M'Conachie, Lauder. 



[Two examples, doubtless imported with pit -props, taken at 

 Granton, near Edinburgh, on i6th and 19th August, have been sent 

 to us. — Eds.] 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Medical and Veterinary Entomology. By William B. Herms. 

 New York : The Macmillan Company, 1915. 8vo, 393 pp. Price 

 17s. net. 



Of late years the study of economic entomology has taken its place 

 as an essential part of the training of the medical officer, the veterinary 

 surgeon, and the public health official. It is not surprising, therefore, 

 that many volumes have recently appeared, with the object of affording 

 the student the means of acquiring an adequate knowledge of 

 the various groups of insects which have some influence, noxious or 

 otherwise, on the welfare of mankind. These works also endeavour to 

 impart to their readers information of a practical nature, designed for 

 the control of the various pests which attack man himself, his domestic 

 animals, and his cultivated plants. On many occasions we have had the 

 opportunity of noticing works of this nature in our pages, and that now 

 open before us will compare favourably with any that we have seen. 

 After a general discussion on the control of insect-borne diseases, the 

 origin and effects of parasitism, and the general features of insect 

 anatomy and classification, the various groups are treated systematically 

 and in full detail. Thus one chapter is devoted to cockroaches, beetles, 

 and thrips ; the next to the various groups of lice ; another to bedbugs 

 and their allies ; three to mosquitoes and their control ; one to "buffalo 

 gndiis" {Szmuliuvi) and "horseflies " (Tabanidae) ; two to the house-fly 

 and its control ; one to the various blood-sucking Muscidte (tsetse 

 flies, stable flies, etc.) ; one to the various forms of myiasis and 

 the insects concerned therein ; one each to fleas, ticks, and mites ; 

 and finally one treating of venomous insects and arachnids, A useful 

 feature of the text, which is excellent throughout, is the employment of 

 a heading in heavy type for each paragraph or section, enabling the 

 student to find readily the exact kind of information required. The 

 book is well printed, the type clear, and the illustrations (numbering 

 well over two hundred) adequate and well-chosen. The weight of the 

 volume (3 lb.) is its only objectionable feature, but this is a common 

 fault of works published in America. 



