i893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 229 



for example, which extends over six pages, and in which the 

 differences are often relative, a few good outlines would be invaluable 

 to the beginner. We could also wish to see figures of the immature 

 stages of some of the Hemiptera. 



The descriptions are occasionally relieved by accounts of habits, 

 and a full list of the known British localities for each species is given. 

 In a group so comparatively little worked, these localities are at 

 present, probably, as much a guide to the distribution of hemipterists 

 as to that of Hemiptera ; the southern counties of England, and 

 Norfolk, however, seem to have been so well searched that species 

 absent from them may be presumed to have a northern or western 

 range in the British Islands. It is a pity that Mr. Saunders has not 

 given at least the outlines of the distribution of each species abroad. 

 A knowledge of this must go hand in hand with that of the British 

 range of an animal, to enable the student to form conclusions as to 

 the relative age of allied forms, and the time and method of the intro- 

 duction of the various elements of our fauna. Mr. Saunders, in his 

 hints on collection and preservation, lays stress on the necessity for 

 recording localities. It is to be hoped that collectors will all take his 

 advice. Entomologists now, happily, recognise that the value of a 

 specimen is vastly increased when its locality is known ; the patient 

 accumulation of such records may furnish invaluable material for 

 future workers at animal distribution and its allied problems. 



Altogether Mr. Saunders' work must be considered a most 

 valuable addition to the literature of the British fauna. 



The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma : Moths. Vol. I. 

 By G. F. Hampson. 8vo. Pp. xxiv. and 527, with 333 woodcuts. London : 

 Taylor & Francis, 1892. 



This is the first volume on invertebrate animals which has appeared 

 in the excellent series of Indian faunistic works edited by Dr. W. T. 

 Blanford. It contains synopses of the families of moths, and of the 

 Indian genera and species of most of the families included under the 

 terms Sphinges and Bombyces. Mr. Hampson, however, rejects all 

 tribal divisions of the Lepidoptera except the primary separation 

 into butterflies (Rhopalocera) and moths (Heterocera), and he appears 

 to consider the groups of Noctuids, Geometers, Pyralids, &c., as of 

 only family, and not tribal, value. 



After a short introduction on the external anatomy of the Lepi- 

 doptera, there is a "tree" showing the supposed relationships between 

 the families of moths, followed by a table in which these families are 

 differentiated, mostly by the neuration of the wings, Mr. Hampson has 

 followed, in the main, the classification propounded by Snellen in his 

 " Vlinders van Nederland." British lepidopterists will notice that here, 

 as in Mr. Kirby's recent " Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera," the 

 Sphingidae are deposed from their place at the head of the moths, and 

 placed next the Notodontidae. In Mr. Hampson's genetic tree the 

 Saturniidse appear at the head of one high branch, while the Epicopiidae, 

 Uraniidae, and Geometridae figure at the summit of the other. The 

 Micropterygidae and Hepialidae are considered the lowest families, 

 though removed from the main stem, on which the Tineidae take the 

 lowest place. 



The descriptions of the genera and species are illustrated by 

 cuts, the pattern of the wings being generally shown on one side, 

 and their neuration on the other ; details of the antennas, palps, &c., 



