^^' 'February, 



diaperinus and O aathooerus cornutus, both of which were in large numbers, while 

 two specimens only of Tenehrioides mauritanicus were met with. The baker was so 

 kind as to pull up for us a partlj-loosened board forming part of the floor close to 

 the oven, the evil-smelling black soil under which was, he informed us, largely 

 composed of stale " German yeast " In this material I was so fortunate as to find 

 three specimens of Carcinopn 1^-striata, Steph. There is one previous, but very 

 ancient, record of this little Histerid from tlie London district, namely, " Battersea 

 Fields " (Stephens), and the species is an addition to Mr. H. Heasler's more modern 

 and admirable MS. List of London Coleoptera, compiled for the City of London 

 Entomological Society, which comprises upwards of 1600 species, and is limited to 

 a lO miles i-adius from Charing Ci'oss, and to records dating from 1880. It is hoped 

 that this List may be published later in some form, but want of funds at present 

 prevents its being issued as a separate work. — F. B. Jennings, 152, Silver Street, 

 Upper Edmonton, N. : January 17ih, 1900. 



Iieuinufj. 



British Dragonflies (Odonata) : by W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. Pp. 

 356, large 8vo, with 27 coloured plates and numerous text figures. London : L. 

 Upcott Gill. 1900. 



We cordially welcome this long-expected book, and hope and believe it will do 

 much to further a knowledge of our very limited dragon-fly fauna. But for the 

 sake of the many we wish it had come before us in a less expensive form. In 

 " get up " it is an ouvrage de Itixe, large type, wide margins, fine paper, &c., &c., 

 albeit with an ugly binding. On one point the work stands prominently forward, 

 that is in the amount of information (and also figures, mostly original) on the early 

 stages of the insects ; we can recall no other faunistic book on the subject in Europe 

 in whicli this is so much detailed : the eggs are figured for nine species. The pre- 

 liminary part is good, but the tables for genera and species (pp. 57 — 61) leave much 

 to be desired, being too much based on colour characters ; and we scarcely find any 

 allusion to the genitalia of the second segment in the S , which, in Sympetrum es- 

 pecially, should have been diagrammatically figured (in the comparison between S. 

 striolatum and »S. vulyatum, p. 73, no mention is made of these, yet they furnish 

 what is practically the one reliable character). Beyond the tables there is no 

 division into families or genera, and the species follow on without breaks. The general 

 plan is as follows for each species:— Synonymy (mainly limited to British works), a copy 

 of the original description, Size, Male Imago, Female Imago, Immature Colour, Varia- 

 tion, Egg, Nymph, Date, Migration, Habits, Distribution. This last (Distribution) 

 seems unnecessarily extended in the case of species found practically everywhere, and 

 will prove embarassing when a second edition is required. A few words might have 

 been devoted to extra-British distribution, for an intelligent interest is springing up 

 in dragon-flies by tourists and others, and it affects the matter of migration. The de- 

 scriptions are full and carefully written ; the addition of a few more structural details 

 here and there would have improved them. And now as to the Plates, for these are 

 likely to be more frequently consulted than the text. They, as a whole, are ex- 

 cellent, and should, save in a few critical cases, enable the collector to determine his 



