CURRENT NOTES, 73 



The arrangement of the families is a modification of that suggested 

 by Osten-Sacken and almost identical with that of Aidrich is his 

 "Catalogue of the N. American Diptera," and we note that the author 

 has included the fauna of the world in his Table of Families, while the 

 Palaearctic Fauna is dealt with in his Tables of the Genera, this fact, 

 in conjunction with tbe Systematic List of Palsarctic species already 

 referred to, should make the work one of considerable value to students 

 outside the British Isles. All the British species are described with 

 extreme minuteness of detail, probably with the intention of remedying 

 the defect mentioned in the Preface that the "common and more 

 ancient species have as a rule been very inadequately described," while 

 many valuable notes are given concerning this Patearctic species and 

 their synonymy. A large figure of some typical species is given at the 

 commencement of each family, and, in most cases, of each subfamily, 

 while the numerous detail figures in the body of the work materially 

 add to its value. 



We are glad to notice that some attention has been paid to that most 

 useful aid to systematic work, the study of the life-histories, in a 

 chapter by Dr. I). Sharp, profusely illustrated, dealing with the meta- 

 morphoses of the families included in this and the previous volume, 

 though one cannot help being struck with the fragmentary state of the 

 knowledge on this subject when the numbers of species, their com- 

 paratively large size, and their abundance in certain localities, are 

 taken into consideration. 



We congratulate the author and artist upon the production of a 

 volume which must rank as one of the best published on this Order of 

 Insects, and which adds materially to the sum of our knowledge of the 

 families dealt with. 



Those lepidopterists specially interested in Pal<Barctic butterflies 

 should be caretul not to miss a most interesting paper on the variation 

 of certain Moroccan butterflies and Anthrocerids, by Professor Charles 

 Blachier {A}in. Soc. Ent. Fr., Ixxviii., pp. 709 et seg.). He claims 

 specific rank for the beautiful Heodes phoebus, hitherto considered a 

 race of H. tJiersamon, and figures a most beautiful aberration of Rumicia 

 phlaeas under the name of ab. obeitliucri. All interested in this species 

 should look at the figure of this specimen. W^e must congratulate 

 Mr. Culot on his excellent work throughout pi. iv. The colour- 

 prmting, too, of this plate is especially good. In the Bull, de la Soc. 

 Ent. France, p. 319, Professor Dupont also describes a colour-form of 

 Thestor balliis. Also in the Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Ixxvii., pp. 496 et 

 set].. Dr. Chapman has a short paper on some Larentiid Geometrids 

 captured in the Pyrenean district, and illustrates his remarks thereon 

 by figures of the ancillary appendages of Entephria caeruleata, E. 

 cyanata, E. Jiancinctata, E. infidaria, E. nuhiliaria, E. caesiata, E. 

 polata, and E. tophaceata. 



Our esteemed colleague, Mr. Henri Gadeau de Kerville, made, in 

 1906, a zoological expedition into Khroumirie, a mountainous but 

 fertile district in north-west Tunis, abutting on Eastern Algeria. 

 Since his return he has written up an account of his journey, whilst 

 the collections made have been handed over to specialists, and their 

 reports have been combined with his own account of the journey in a 

 first class illustrated volume entitled, 1 (»ja;/e Zoohxjique en Khron- 

 iiiiric (published by J. B. Balliere et Fils, Paris). The zoological 



