1916.J 60 



I do not know what authority, if one exists, can decide on the validity of 

 these 19 new species, and suggest that Mr. Moulton should without delay 

 examine the types, redescribe them carefully, and correct their synonymy. The 

 nomenclature of the Bornean butterflies is probably in a woi-se state of chaos 

 than that of any other country, and this fact is due to the wi'itiugs of gentlemen 

 who have lived in this island at various periods diu-ing the last 22 years. I 

 can find no reference to these 19 new species in Mr. Moulton's latest paper. — 

 Hamilton H. Dkuce, 3, ^rfolk Eoad, Eegeut's Park, N.W. : Febniary Uth, 1916 



V\ c u i c lu. 



" The Embrtologt of the Hoxet Bee." By J. A. Nelson, Ph.D. With 

 five Phites and 95 Text-figures ; pp. 1-282. Princeton University Press. 1915. 



A cursory glance at an\' bibliogi-aphy of the Honey-bee would probably 

 convince the reader that little or nothing remained to be i-ecorded of tliis 

 wonderful insect, yet a closer investigation shows that an account of the 

 Embryology, at any rate, has not up to the present been published as a whole. 

 From the Historical Review in the present volume (Chapter 1) it appeai-s that 

 some seven more or less important papers have been published on the embryology, 

 the first I'ecorded observations being those of Professor Weismann, which were 

 transmitted to Metsehuikoff and published by him in 1866. Two important 

 papers followed these observations, tlie first by Otto Biitschli, who studied only 

 the living egg (1870), and the second by Kowalewski, a Russian, who has the 

 distinction of being the fii-st insect embryoiogist to cut sections of the tissue, 

 fixed and embedded in paraffin (1871). 



Other important papers are by the following authors: — Grassi (1884) ; 

 Blochmann (1889) ; Petrunkewitsch (1901 and 1903) ; and Dickel (1903) ; but all 

 these papers are limited in their scope. 



In the present volume the whole subject seems to have been dealt with in 

 a thorough manner. Commencing with an account of the organization of the 

 egg, the author gives in sequence an account of the formation of the germ layei"s, 

 the amnion and cephalo-dorsal body, and a general account of the development 

 of the embryo, with the nervous and tracheal systems. It is interesting to note 

 that there are 21 segments in the bee embryo, and tliat appendages were observed 

 on the antennal segment, the three gnathal segments, and the three thoracic 

 segments ; no abdominal appendages were found. As is usual in insect embrj'os, 

 the second maxillae fuse to form the labrum. The total time normally required 

 for the development of the egg is 76 hours. The short chapter on technique 

 should prove useful to other workers. The book is well illustrated, the series 

 of 5 plates containing 15 figures of the egg, taken in sequence at frequent 

 intervals, from fig. 1, when the cleavage cells form only a small group at the 

 anterior end of the egg, to fig. 15, showing the newly hatched larva, being quite 

 first rate. The niunerous text-figures of sections are very clear, while the 

 bibliography gives references to many important papers on insect embiyology. 



