44 i-'"iy. 



I suppose it was no affair of mine, but I then began to consider how tliis mul- 

 titude of carnivorous wretches was fed. Lycosa saccata is a hunting species of 

 spider ; each individual insists on killing his own meat, and, like all hunting tribes, 

 whether of man or beast, is no doubt wasteful of it ; it spins no web, has neither 

 storehouse nor barn, and takes no thought of a cold joint for the morrow, as the web- 

 making species obviously do ; a fellow-creature must daily die that each Lycosa may 

 dine. 



The peaceful-looking bay, sleeping in the sunshine, was, in reality, a scene of 

 ruthless slaughter, and multitudes of happy, innocent beings were there daily put to 

 the most cruel of deaths that spiders might live. 



In the contemplation of the state of incesssant war which reigns throughout 

 nature, there is much to give rise to painful thought. I cannot here pursue the 

 subject without trespassing on ground forbidden in your pages, but it is worthy of 

 careful and thoughtful reflection ; and blessed is he who even then can satisfy himself 

 that he understands it. — Edwin Biechall, Douglas, Isle of Man : May Iblh, 187^. 



i' 



-CUlCll'. 



Die Neuropteren Europas, und insbesondere Oesterreichs, mit Rucksicht auf 

 ihre geographische Verbreitung. F. Brauer : Wien, 187(5, 4to. Separat-Abdruck 

 aus der Festschrift zur Feier des fiinfundzwanzigjahrigen Bestehens dor k. k. zoolog.- 

 botan. Gesellschaft in Wien, pp. 1—38 (or 265—300 of the entire work). 



In this exceedingly useful work. Dr. Brauer (who may be termed one of the 

 pioneers of modern Neuropterology) has brought together a List of all the described 

 Neuroptera (in the Linnean sense) of the European Fauna, with the recorded dis- 

 tribution of the various species. The term " European Fauna," as here appliedj 

 signifies in reality the Palsearctic Division of the globe, in the system of orni- 

 thologists, and comprises all Northern and Central Asia, Northern Africa, &c., &c. ; 

 a vast district of ill-defined limits, but yet infinitely better adapted to the investi- 

 gations of the philosophical naturalist than is the Europe of our maps and atlases. 



In round numbers, 1000 species are indicated by name. Of these, probably at 

 least 100 may be taken as only synonyms : in other cases also, several species may be 

 included under one name, and there are a few omissions ; so that 1000 may still be 

 near the truth as to the species known to inhabit this faunistic division. In making 

 a more minute examination of the materials as comprised in groups, families, or 

 sub-orders, it is evident that the so-called Order has been unequally worked in its 

 constituent parts. Possibly the Odonata are the best known of all, and that it will 

 be difficult to add to the hundred (or thereabouts) of actual European Dragon-flies. 

 'VhelTrichoptera are now undergoing revision. The EphemeridcB have been revised 

 up to a certain point. Other groups (more or less extensive) are tolerably well 

 known. But there remain some in which little else than chaos still reigns supreme, 

 and not the least important of these are the PerlidcB, the numerous species (with 

 their possible local forms) of the genus Ilemerobius as restricted, and the genus 

 Raphidia. In fact, there is work enough for the concentrated energies of seveml 

 entomologists. And it is additionally desirable that a thorough revision be made of 

 almost all the European Neuroptera, because, on the other side of the Atlantic is a vast 

 continent, with a fauna hardly to be grouped as forming a separate division from that 



