REVIEWS 173 



find in this work. The chapter on the duration and rate of development, on the 

 technique, a short summary, and an exhaustive bibliography form very useful 

 additions. 



The author is to be congratulated on having produced a very valuable book, 

 which, by treating the subject in a comparative manner, not only adds to our 

 knowledge of the actual embryological processes in the bee itself, but brings them 

 into relationship with those in allied forms. ^ u- Q>r\ 



The Alligator and its Allies. By A. M. Reese, Ph.D. [Pp. xi + 358, with 

 62 figures and 28 plates.] (London and New York; G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, 191 5. Price io.r. 6d. net.) 

 In a book of this description it is to be regretted that the author did not check 

 and extend the observations of previous writers upon which he draws so freely. 

 One result of this is, that a certain number of avoidable incongruities occur. For 

 example, a map of the distribution of the Crocodilia (taken from the Cambridge 

 Natural History) is given on p. 6, on which it does not show that crocodiles are to 

 be found in Florida ; yet on the same page, and only a few lines lower down, it is 

 stated that they do occur there. An attempt is made to give a list of the existing 

 species of crocodiles ; the list is quoted from Ditmar's Reptiles of the World, and 

 has not got added to it such interesting forms as Tomistoma schlegelii or Crocodilus 

 cataphractus, to mention only two species. The incomplete notes on the ancestry 

 of the Crocodilia do not give any account of the recent palseontological work on 

 the group, and so are of little value. Throughout certain chapters of the book 

 we find constant references to Bronn's account of one thing or another ; indeed, 

 Chapter III. is admittedly an unverified translation from Bronn's Thierreich^ 

 illustrated by its figures. It is misleading to call this Bronn's account, however, 

 since the three volumes on Reptilia in Bronn's Thierreich were the work of 

 Prof. C. K. Hoffmann years after Prof. Bronn's death. AH this kind of thing 

 detracts from the value of a book, and, indeed, the present volume on the whole 

 is disappointing, for it contains little that cannot be obtained from other sources 

 and a deal that is taken from standard text-books. We cannot think it justifies 

 the claim on its wrapper to be an " exhaustive scientific treatise." 



C. H. O'D. 



The Mosquitoes of North and Central America and the We3t Indies. By 

 Leland O. Howard, Harrison G. Dyar and Frederick Knab. 

 Vol. III. Systematic Description (in two parts). Part I. [Pp. vi + 523.] 

 (Washington D.C. : Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 1915.) 

 SINCE the appearance of the first two volumes of this monograph in 1913, its 

 importance and value have been universally acknowledged, the authors by their 

 masterly treatment of the general consideration of the subject, in Volume I, 

 having rendered their work of great service to a wide circle of readers. The issue 

 of the systematic portion (illustrated by the plates and drawings composing the 

 second volume) will therefore provide much satisfaction to all who are interested 

 in this group of insects, but it will naturally appeal more particularly to those con- 

 cerned with the taxonomic aspect. The publication of the present volume has 

 been awaited with considerable interest since the wide dispersal of the necessary 

 literature and the not infrequently meagre and often inadequate descriptions 

 supplied therein have hitherto rendered the recognition of many species a difficult 

 matter, 



