332 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept^ 



REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Entomological Correspondence of Thaddeus W. 

 Harris, M.D. Edited by Samuel H. Scudder. 



The volume before us contains and shadows forth part of the 

 life works of an indefatigable and conscientious naturalist. The 

 review of such a volume becomes a pleasure to any lover of 

 natural history — particularly to the entomologist — illustrating as 

 it does the studies of such men as Hentz, Doubleday, Le Conte, 

 Melsheimer, and others. 



The book contains 437 pages, together with an ex3ellent por- 

 trait on steel of Dr. Harris. It has fonr steel plates of beetles 

 and their larvae, also of moths and their caterpillars (coloured) 

 while numerous woodcuts appear in the text. 



The volume commences with a memoir of Dr. Harris, by Col- 

 T. W. Higginson, which treats of his early life and collegiate 

 careers. It also introduces to the reader the naturalists forming 

 the circle of his acquaintance and correspondence, including such 

 men as Curtis, Newman, Doubleday, Hentz, Herrick, Say, Kirby, 

 Melsheimer, Le Conte, and others well known to entomologists. 



Col. Higginson, speaking of Dr. Harris as a Professor at 

 Harvard College in 1842, says : " I was fortunate to be among his 

 pupils. There were exercises twice a week, which included reci- 

 tations in " Smellie's Philosophy of Natural History," with 

 occasional elucidations and lectures by Dr. Harris. There were 

 also special lectures on Botany. Dr. Harris formed in addition 

 a private class in Entomology, to which I also belonged. It in- 

 cluded about a dozen young men from different college classes, who 

 met one evening of every week at the room where our teacher 

 kept his Cabinet ■ in Massachusetts Hall. These were very 

 delightful exercises according to my recollection, though we never 

 got beyond the Coleoptera. Dr. Harris was so simple and eager ; 

 his tall, spare form and thin face took on such a glow and freshness 

 as he dwelt so lovingly on Antennae and Tarsi, and he handled so 

 fondly his little insect martyrs that it was enough to make us love 



