3J4 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



By conciseness of language and the use of illustrations the senior 

 author, who is responsible for parts I and II, has succeeded remarkably 

 well in giving a good general view of all the orders. About three hundred 

 different species of insects have heen described and illustrated in this 

 section. 



Part III, consisting of almost one hundred pages, is devoied to labor- 

 atory exercises and outlines a fairly comprehensive course of study of the 

 external and internal anatomy of types of the more common and important 

 orders, giving special attention to a comparative study of the mouth-parts. 

 Hints are also given on the proper methods of studying life histories. One 

 of the most useful chapters in this division of the book consists of a series 

 of keys to the various orders and families, Most of the keys are simple 

 and easy to use, being based on characteristics that can readily be seen 

 with a hand lens. In the case of the Lepidoptera and Diptera it was of 

 course found necessary to use the wing venation in constructing a satis- 

 factory key. In doing so the author has inserted diagrams of wings of 

 most of the families included in the keys to these two orders. It is 

 doubtful, however, whether it would not have been an improvement to 

 have dovoted a short chapter of four or five pages to a study of wing 

 venation and the method of clearing wings of the Lepidoptera. 



The remainder of part III outlines methods of collecting, preserving 

 and studying insects, and many suggestions are given that will be helpful 

 to all but the most experienced entomologist. This part does much to 

 remedy a long-felt defect in entomological text books and will help greatly 

 to give the book a wide circulation among students and teachers of 

 entomology. 



As is usual in a work of this character, there are a few errors of minor 

 importance, chiefly of a typographical character. Promethia (page 216), 

 Velidae (page 309) and Physopodae (page '308) are clearly cases of this 

 nature. In part II (page 116) Negro Bugs are classed as Corimelaenidse 

 and in the key as Thyreocoridas. Œcanthiis niveus (page 87) should 

 clearly be 0. iiigricornis. On page 161 it is stated that "the lady bird 

 beetles form the only family of the Trimera. This is rather mislead- 

 ing, as is also the statement on page 75 that springtails "are never 

 injurious." These, however, are insignificant mistakes and do almost 

 nothing to lessen the value of the book. 



L. C.^SAR, O. A. C, Guelph, Ont. 



