126 NATURAL SCIENCE. August, 



before us, and they are only made to point out what experience has 

 shown to be the result of too copious illustration, viz., defeat of its 

 own object. We venture to think that of those who have put 

 their hand to the hymenopteran plough extremely few have looked back, 

 and this result is largely due to such books as this of Mr. Saunders. 

 Three plates only are given here : the first is an excellent " structural 

 plate," which will be most useful to all students ; the other two are 

 entirely devoted to mouth-parts. We rather regret that a place could 

 not be found for a reproduction of the genital armatures which are 

 figured in the Synopses, if only for the convenience of having all 

 within one cover. In general arrangement but few alterations have 

 been introduced into that adopted in the Synopses, though minor 

 changes are numerous. Four sections are now recognised instead of 

 two ; Kohl's arrangement of the Sphegidae is adopted ; several 

 families, e.g., Crabronidae, are no longer admitted, while others are 

 created, e.g., Eumenidae to include Odymnis and Enmenes, Colletidae to 

 include Colletes and Prosopis ; the Acutilingues are divided into two 

 families — Andrenidae and Apidae, the former including Nomada (Perez 

 notwithstanding), Panurgas, Dufourea, and Rophites, in addition to the 

 six genera so included in the Synopses. Specific names have under- 

 gone considerable change, particularly in the genera Andrena, Bombus, 

 and Cevceris ; altogether there are some thirty such alterations, which 

 generally consist in adopting names previously quoted as synonyms, 

 though in a few cases old species are split up, and in fewer still they 

 are " lumped." About a dozen new species are admitted as British, 

 and of these seven belong to Sphccodes. The notes on habits are 

 admirable, and it is agreeable to find that all dimensions are now 

 uniformly stated in mm., and that the authorities for localities are 

 given. Inaccuracies are extremely few — two occur in the account 

 of the Vespidae : (i) p. 151, "six species [of Vespa] occur in this 

 country" — seven are given in the table immediately below; (2) The 

 large female cells are not ahmys in the lowest tier of the nest, but may 

 be added anywhere, as Dr. Ch. Janet has shown. The introduction 

 contains much valuable information on Anatomy, Collecting, etc. A 

 few of the sentences are, however, somewhat obscure and awkwardly 

 expressed: e.g., p. 5, "there seems to be doubts"; "the nervous 

 system . . . consists of a system of ganglia united along the centre of 

 the insect by two longitudinal cords"; "the circulatory system 

 consists of a dorsal vessel, which lies along the back of the abdomen, 

 from which the blood is circulated" ; p. 6, "the respiratory system is 

 carried on through the agency of spiracles " ; p. 7, " head large, but 

 varying little " should surely be " varying but little." The adjective 

 " classificational " (p. 10) strikes us as cumbrous, and we rather take 

 exception to the use of the plural " tarsi " to express a single tarsus 

 of many joints. 



Apart from these very slight blemishes we have nothing but 

 praise for the book, and wish it the success that it thoroughly 

 deserves. O. H. L. 



The Butterfly Hunter in France. 

 L' Amateur de Papillons. By H. Coupin. I'p. vii., 329, with 124 cuts. Paris : 

 Bailliere, 1895. ]*rice 4 francs. 



This handy little work contains a series of useful hints upon the 

 practical methods of catching or rearing insects for the cabinet, 

 among which hints is scattered some information upon the anatomy 

 and the life-history of insects in general, and Lepidoptera in particular. 

 There is of course the inevitable chapter upon mimicry, protective 



