278 [December, 



took at Poyntzpass {vide "Irish Naturalist," xxix, 1920, p. 19) was a female. 

 I shall not have an opportunity of looking for it here again as I am leaving 

 Poyntzpass next month. — W. F. Johnson, Poyntzpass: November Ath, 

 1921. 



Obituary. — Albert Brydges Farn. We regret to announce the death of 

 this well-known Lepidopterist, which took place at his residence, Gaiiarew, 

 near Monmouth, on October 31st. A more detailed notice will, we hope, 

 appear iu an early number of this Magazine. — Eds. 



"Insect Transformation," b}^ George H. Carpenter, D.Sc. 

 London : Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1921. 8vo. Pp. x & 282, 3 Plates, and 124 

 Text-figures. Price 12/6 net. 



This book, as the author states in the preface, is designed to serve as an 

 introduction to the study of growth and change in the life of insects. He re- 

 tells many well-known stories and calls attention to some structural details 

 that have hitherto escaped mention in text-books, and discusses the relation of 

 such details to the wider problems of insect life-histories. The subject is 

 arranged under eight chapters: (i) Introduction; (ii) Form, growth and 

 change : (iii) The open type of wing-growth ; (iv) The hidden type of wing- 

 growth ; (v) Some wingless insects; (vi) The class and orders of insects; 

 (vii) Growing insects and their surroundings ; (viii) The problems of trans- 

 formation. Commencing with a grasshopper, as a generalized insect showing 

 no striking difference between young and adult, the author gives, under 

 Chapter ii, a full account of its structure throughout the whole period of its 

 existence. This is followed by a representative selection from most of the 

 other orders of insects, numbering 23 in all, which are treated and illustrated 

 in the same way, the description of the adult being given only as far as is 

 necessary to elucidate the structure of the larvae, pupae, and immature stages 

 generally. Dr. Carpenter has devoted many years to the study of the earlier 

 stages of various insects, and the result of this work is included in tlie present 

 volume, supplemented of course by much additional matter compiled from the 

 writings of other specialists. 



In his summary at the end of the volume, p. 271, he remarks very truly 

 that " in this brief and imperfect discussion of the problems presented by the 

 transformations of insects, it has been seen how details of the varying life-his- 

 tories of different types — grasshopper, dragon-fly, beetle, butterfly, bee, blue- 

 bottle — throw light on the development of the class as a whole through the 

 ages of geological time. As one traces the life-cycle of an individual insect, 

 lasting perhaps for a few weeks only, or at most for a few years, it is inspiring 

 to think of the changing forms and conditions which are indicated in the 

 countless thousands of genenitions of the creature's history, reaching back to 

 the far-ofi^ period of the Coal-Measures and beyond.'' 



