REVIEWS. 277 



;^EYIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Natural History of the ]]ritish Lepidoptera, a text-book 



FOR students and COLLECTORS, VoL. III., BY J. W. TuTT, F.E.S. 



["SSS + xii pages, Price £1 net. Published by Swan Sonnenschein and 

 Co., Paternoster Square, E.G.]. — Two years after the publication of the 

 second volume, the third volume of British Lcpidnptrra has been com- 

 pleted. It differs from its predecessors inasmuch as it is not divided into 

 two parts, but deals throughout with the species continued from vol. ii. 

 The first species dealt with is I'ac/njjfastria trifulii, the last Jlt'iiiaris 

 titi/i(s {hoiiibyliforiiiis). One has little doubt that of all the species 

 dealt with, Lasiocainpa querent will come in for the most notice. The 

 history of this species occupies no less than 70 pages, much of it is in 

 small type, and the Avhole composed of summarised detail dealing with 

 facts, and without a word that could possibly be spared. Little that 

 has ever been published on this interesting species can have escaped 

 the search-net, and the full details of the variation will not only prove 

 of the highest interest to all students and collectors of lepidoptera, but 

 the critical onslaughts made on the misuse of the varietal names on 

 the continent will necessitate a thorough study by continental lepidop- 

 terists. Short notes on LaaioccDupa var. callnnac, often repeated ad 

 nauaeam with no fresh facts or details and stating simply what has 

 been published so often before, by recruits who are for ever finding out 

 something quite new because of their ignorance of previously published 

 matter or their inability to find it, must of necessity be fewer in 

 number or more scientific in character now that the details (pp. 73-85) 

 so industriously collected by the author can be so readily studied, for 

 these pages do not represent the author's opinion of the subject, but 

 the opinions and facts of all lepidopterists who have handled the sub- 

 species since 1849, when Palmer first described it. To many the account 

 of Dimorpha versicolora will be especially welcome, consisting as it does 

 of 35 pages (pp. 229-264) of solid matter relating to this interesting 

 species, and embodied in which one finds descriptions of no less than 

 ten striking gynandromorphs ; a complete life-history based on the 

 observations of Chapman, J3acot, Holland, Clarke, Gascoyne, Merri- 

 field, Buckler, Bernard- Smith, Poulton, Jenvey, Bankes, Tugwell, Sec, 

 whilst more than a hundred other lepidopterists are quoted for details 

 relating to localities, dates of appearance, habits, &c. As a matter of 

 comparison, however, it may be noted that (Tastropacha ilirifolia has 

 been worked out in such detail as to require from pp. 186-199 to 

 describe it and its habits in their various aspects, and practically eA'ery 

 detail of our knowledge of the species in Britain is here embodied, as 

 well as a complete life-history never before published. The less than 

 a dozen lines of Newman on Hemaris titi/iis, with at least two glaring 

 errors, become here some twelve solid pages of detailed facts, checked 

 with the authorities and vouched for by their names. These two species 

 are those that occupy the least space; the other species are worked out 

 in the same careful manner, but with more facts and details. To 

 the biologist the extensive details relating to the hybridity, gynandro- 

 morphism and life-histories of the species treated, will prove a mine of 

 information. The account of Sou'rint/nis hybr. Iii/bridus (pp. 148-459) 

 is of the greatest value as a summary of all the work published on this 

 best-known hybrid form ; but the details on pp. 391-395 will prove no 

 doubt of still more interest. The description and account of Mimas 

 hybr. leoniac, a cross between <? tiliae and ? ocdlata ; of ('alasiiinhobis 



