1912.1 117 



appeared in oiu- own pages, are well known to Entomologists ; and the best 

 thanks of all who are interested in otu- science are due to him for the handsome 

 and finely illustrated volmne in which these notes and observations are brought 

 together. Many who read them in their present form will learn for the fii'st 

 time that their author in his younger days, before his eyesight was greatly 

 impaired by a regrettable accident when an undergraduate at Oxford, was an 

 ardent collector and student of British Lepidoptera, as his contributions to our 

 early vol\imes bear witness, and that he is now only retiu-ning to his old love, 

 though it may be in a wider field and with a more extended outlook. Chapter I 

 is, devoted to reminiscences of these early days, and the eight succeeding chap- 

 ters to the observations made during flying trips to nearly every part of the 

 world — India, China, Japan, Algeria, South Africa, the West Indies and the 

 Spanish Main, the Nile Valley, and finally New Zealand and Australia, being 

 among the regions that were visited and their insect productions " sampled." 

 With what success, in spite of many distractions. Dr. Longstaif' s efi'orts were 

 rewarded, is evident from the fact that the Oxford University Museum has been 

 enriched by him with fully 12,000 insects of all orders, their value being greatly 

 enhanced by the full and accm-ate data attached to every single specimen. 

 While some may consider that these chapters are treated in parts with an 

 excess of detail (the captiu-e of practically every species met with being noted !), 

 the interest of the narrative never flags ; and the genuine enthusiasm and 

 bonhomie of the author shown on every page, as well as the number of valuable 

 and interesting field-notes placed on record, make this part of the book 

 exceedingly pleasant reading. This is especially the case as regards the regions 

 lying more or less oft" the beaten track of Entomologists, such as the West 

 Indies, New Zealand, and notably the Sudan and the White Nile, where the 

 writer introduces us to some ixnusual and very beautifid forms of insect life. 

 Mrs. Longstaff contributes some vahiable notes on the Mollusca met with on the 

 various journeys, and a vivid and graphic account of the great earthquake of 

 January 14ith, 1907, at Kingston, Jamaica, in which the author and his wife 

 narrowly escaped losing their lives, is given in Chapter VI. 



" Butterfly Bionomics " is the title of Chapter X, in which is embodied a 

 large number of valuable and suggestive notes on the flight, resting habits, 

 seasonal forms, mimicry, and scents of butterflies from all parts of the world- 

 The author's observations on the last mentioned svibject, which Dr. F. A. Dixey 

 and he have made peculiarly their own, are supplemented by an Appendix of 

 nearly 70 pages, in which twelve papers by that great observer, Fritz Midler, 

 now appear for the flrst time in an English dress as translated from the German 

 and Portuguese languages by Mr. E. A. Elliott, who has thus earned the lasting 

 gratitude of English naturalists by making these most interesting memoirs 

 accessible to them. 



The entire volume bears eloquent testimony to the care and research of 

 Dr. Longstaff in the acciirate identification of his captures, in many cases a 

 matter of no small difficulty. Misprints and errors are few and far between, 

 though there are one or two even in the " legends " of the coloured plates. Of 

 these it is difficult to speak too highly, some of the flgiu-es reproduced from 



