1899.] IGl 



illustrated instructions for collecting, preserving, &c. The book is pi'inted on good 

 honest unloaded paper, in striking contrast to many recent American works we 

 could name, probably intended to be of more lasting scientific value, but which, if 

 we mistake not, will be utterly ruined when this will show no sign of deterioration. 

 We cordially recommend the work, and believe the impetus it will give to a study 

 of the subject will more than repay the labour bestowed upon it by its self-sacri- 

 ficing author. 



An Index to the Generic and Trivial Names of Animals described 

 BY LiNN^TJS in the 10th and 12th Editions of his " Ststema Nature :" by 

 Charles Davies Sherborn. Pp. viii and 108, 8vo. London : Dulau and Co. ; 

 Manchester: J. E. Cornish. 1899. 



For several years past a Committee of the British Association has been ap- 

 pointed (the writer of this notice being one of its members) for the purpose of 

 furthering the compilation of an " Index Animalium," with Mr. Slierborn as 

 compiler. At present Mr. Sherborn is mainly occupied with the works published 

 in what we can still call the last century. One result is this very useful alphabetical 

 (as to genera and species) and collated List, published as one of its Handbooks by 

 the Owen's College (Manchester) Museum. It is very clearly printed, and evidently 

 the greatest cai-e has been taken in seeing it through the press. The Introduction 

 commences with an annotated List of the twelve editions of the " Systema Natures," 

 several of which, however, were never acknowledged by Linnseus himself. To the 

 systematic zoologist the work is of high value, and will save much trouble. It is 

 scarcely necessary to call attention to the fact that the names appearing in ed. xii, 

 not in ed. x, do not all date from ed. xii, inasmuch as many Scandinavian species 

 were first described in the " Fauna Suecica," ed. ii, which intervened between the 

 editions of the " Systema." Mr. Sherborn is an enthusiast in zoological bibliography 

 rather than a systematist : nevertheless, his opinions on the main question in nomen- 

 clature are worth quoting ; here they are : — 



"In spite of the diSiculties, and they are many, I am of opinion that a rigid 

 adherence to the law of priority would eventually lead to a great simplification of 

 nomenclature, but the impossibility of determining what an author means when he 

 refers to a genus and species founded by an earlier author, allows one to regard with 

 respect the views of those who think priority tempered with common sense the 

 better method. * * * The question must always be one of personal idiosyncracy, 

 and finality is practically impossible." 



The writer of this signed notice is, after an experience of nearly 40 years, 

 inclined to think " priority tempered with common sense " the better method. — 

 R. McLachlan. 



A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera a Text-Book for 

 Students and Collectors by J. W. Tutt, F.E.S. Vol. I. 8vo, pp. (6) + 560, 

 PI. I. London : Swan Sonnenschein and Co. January, 1899. 



By the Rt. Hon. Lord Walsingham, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



Mr. Tutt's first volume of the Natural History of British Lepidoptera is some- 

 thing more than its title would lead us to expect, and if other volumes should succeed 



