REVIEWS 505 



Wild Life in Canada. By Captain Angus Buchanan, M.C. [Pp. 264 + 20, 

 with a map and 28 illustrations from photographs by the author.] 

 (London : John Murray, 1920. Price 15s. net.) 



This book is a record of a journey of nearly 2,000 miles in dog-sled and canoe 

 undertaken by the author in 1914. It was not published earlier owing to 

 the author's absence on military service. The route lay through the almost 

 unknown land in Northern Saskatchewan up to the limits of the Barren Lands. 



For the general reader the main part of the book provides a straightforward 

 and interesting account of this wonderful northland, its inhabitants and the 

 manner of journeying through it. Here and there it is marred by slight faults 

 that might have been removed in reading the proofs : e.g. the thermometer 

 registered 4 per cent, above freezing " and " a fair guide . . . are." Never- 

 theless it is well worth reading and conveys a very true impression of life in 

 Northern Canada. Its pages, like the autumn wind, carry some of the mag- 

 netism of the open spaces, the tang of the biting winds over the snows and 

 the haunting mystery of the great silence. 



For the naturalist is provided a list of the birds and animals seen or 

 collected on the journey, and this constitutes a very valuable contribution to 

 our knowledge of the natural history of these regions and of the distribution ot 

 certain species in Canada. It is the first collection of the kind to be made 

 over this territory. 



C. H. O'D. 



An Introduction to Entomology. By John Henry Comstock, Professor of 

 Entomology and general Zoology, Emeritus, in Cornell University. 

 Part I. [Second Edition, entirely rewritten. Pp. xviii + 220, with 220 

 figures.] (Ithaca, N.Y. : The Comstock Pubhshing Co., 1920. Price 



$2-50.) 



The present volume is the first of two which wiU make up the complete work. 

 It has been put on the market now as the result of requests from teachers and 

 others who knew that the work was in preparation, instead of being held in 

 till the completion of Part II. As a result it may be a very considerable 

 time before the last half is published. 



Students of entomology have every reason to be glad that this step has 

 been taken. The second part, we understand, is to " treat of the Classification 

 of Insects." No more information than this is vouchsafed ; no suggestion is 

 made as to the lines to be adopted. Whatever form the volume is to take, we 

 can trust the author to produce something sound, but there are already a 

 number of books good on taxonomic entomology and there is no doubt that 

 the more important section is the one herewith coming under notice. 



It is a pleasure to receive a book of which one can speak with nothing but 

 approval. An Introduction to Entomology is such a book. There are four 

 chapters under the following titles : " Characteristics of Insects and their 

 Relatives," shortly describing the main features of the various classes of 

 Arthropods ; " The External Anatomy of Insects " ; " The Internal Anatomy 

 of Insects " ; " The Metamorphosis of Insects." These cover an enormous 

 field for so small a volume, but the amount of information crammed into the 

 pages is made possible only by the terse, business-like style of the author and 

 the omission of all unnecessary padding. In the final chapter, for instance, of 

 the multitudinous variations possible in the metamorphosis of insects, not one 

 of any importance is overlooked. Being " an introduction " they are briefly 

 treated, but aU entomologists wiU be glad to find between two covers informa- 

 tion that they have previously had to search out from books innumerable. 



Although a scientific book, An Introduction to Entomology is interestingly 

 written. The language is simple and can be understood by the youngest. 

 While the recognised standard terms for all the varied phenomena are 

 employed, each is clearly defined when first introduced and the correct 



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