1904.] 45 



one wlio has studied to a certain extent otlier bettor-known 11^'nienopterous families, 

 but who, though sorrj to be ignorant of so beautiful and important a group as the 

 Ichneumons, has hitlierto feared to approach it precisely for want of such an intro- 

 duction as this book claims, and appears, to supply. 



It would seem from the preface that the autiior has devoted himself for a little 

 more than five years to the special study of Ichneumons. One cannot but wonder 

 that a work of such magnitude could have been completed in so siiorta time, and all 

 the more so, when one notes the imposing list of authorities consulted, and the many 

 aspects of the subject-matter with which Mr. Morley grapples. Over 3()0 British 

 Ichneumoninai are diagnosed, each at considerable length, their habits are often 

 mentioned, and the records of their appearance in this country are always given 

 and examined. There are apparently full Synoptic Tables of Tribes, Genera, and 

 Species. In the Introductory pages, besides a detailed account of the structural 

 characters which have been employed in distinguishing the species, we find a Glossary 

 of the somewhat elaborate orismology adopted by the author, accounts of habits, 

 met.imorphoses, internal structure, &c., and also a " History of the study of the 

 Ichneumonidx," divided into sections (whose titles seem to me, if I may say so, 

 rather oddly chosen — " Geological times," " Pre-Linnean times," " British authors," 

 " Classification," &c., lack the uniformity one would expect in a series of sectional 

 headings). 



The author modestly owns that inaccuracies and imperfections will doubtless 

 be found in his work, and this, under the circumstances, is almost bound to be so ; 

 but he tells us be thought it expedient not on this account to delay publication for 

 an indefinite period. Personally I am grateful that Mr. Morley has not kept us 

 longer in expectation ; and even if hereafter he should be moved to supersede his 

 own book — I know no one else who is likely to do so — by a more completely digested 

 Monograph, the present work will surely at least have served a useful purpose in 

 directing to the study of his favourite insects workers who would not otherwise 

 have ventured upon it. 



I am not in all cases quite pleased with the illustrations. Some of those giving 

 structural details would have been better, I think, unshaded. And at least the 

 smaller photographs of whole insects given in the Frontispiece convey to me 

 very little idea of any particular " facies " by which one is to recognise them. — 

 F. D. MoEiCE. 



Beitish Ttboqlyphid^ : by Albert D. Michael, F.L.S.,F.Z.S.,F,R.M.S.,&c. 

 Vol. I, pp. vii and 289, pi. A— C and xix (1901) ; Vol. II, pp. vii and 183, pi. xxix 

 (1903). Ray Society. 



Excepting as giving masterly descriptions and delineations with a delicacy that 

 probably has seldom been equalled and probably never surpassed, there is no parti- 

 cular reason why a Book on a Family of British Mites should be noticed in a 

 publication confined to Entomology. A sentimental reason is that the learned and 

 very talented author has mixed himself up by his charming personality and that of 

 his wife with the lower forms of animal life in all its aspects, and has continued to 

 make tiny objects of disgust to many people serve as mavellously beautiful micro- 

 scopical slides. It is not for us to enlarge upon the characteristics of individual 



