i.stm. 21 



of the capture of these two specimens, I think that we may infer that the species is 

 now as well naturalized at Kew as its congener americana is at the Zoological 

 Gardens. — C. A. Beiggs, 55, Lincoln's Inn Fields : November 2Sth, 1895. 



[During the last two or three years P. australasicB has been submitted to me 

 from hothouses in various parts of the country ; it appears to be thoroughly estab- 

 lished with us.— R. McLachlan]. 



The Cambridge Natural History, Vol. v. Insects, Part i : by David 

 Sharp, M.A., M.B., F.R.S. Pp. 83—584, 8vo. Macmillan & Co,, London and 

 New York. 1895. 



So far as the general subject of Entomology is concerned, the latter part of the 

 19th century will probably for long remain remarkable on account of the numerous 

 works on it in the English language that then appeared. It is no disparagement to 

 any of them to say that not one aims at superseding Westwood's " Introduction," 

 which, after more than fifty years, remains unique in its method of treatment, and is 

 likely to remain so. It has long been known that Dr. Sharp was engaged on the 

 Insecta for the " Cambridge Natural History ;" the first part has now appeared, and 

 on the whole it more than fully sustains our anticipations. The illustrations (all in the 

 text) are very numerous and judiciously selected, and what is more to the point the 

 majority of them are absolutely original, those that are not so being mainly restricted 

 to matters of internal anatomy. The labour involved in the preparation of the 

 letter-press can only be rightly understood by those who have had occasion, possibly 

 on a smaller scale, to do similar work, and we venture to think that the knowledge 

 acquired by the author during the process will go far to supplement the thanks that 

 will be accorded him by his readers. 



To systematically go through a work of this nature for the purpose of picking 

 holes would be invidious ; we leave that task to those to whom it may be more 

 congenial ; there is only one point, not a matter of detail, to which we propose to 

 take exception. The following is the classification or sequence of Orders adopted : — 

 Aptera (= Collemhola and Thysanura), Orthoptera, Neuroptera (nearly in the 

 Linnean sense), Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Thysanoptera, and 

 Hemiptera. We are not aware if this precise sequence has been previously suggested 

 by any other author or authors, and it seems to be more or less a reversion to or 

 adaptation of the Linnean and Fabrician systems, the broad divisions of " perfect " 

 or "imperfect " metamorphosis so long adopted by most modern scientific writers 

 being disregarded. This we consider a reti'ograde step, not far removed from 

 a reversion to the Linnean system in a modern work on Botany, and it may be 

 due to our obtuseness, but we confess ourselves unable to grasp the terms " very 

 little," "slight," "great," "very great," &c., uoed to express degrees of meta- 

 morphosis. Dr. Sharp seems to think we yet know too little for the grounding of 

 any system, but we venture to believe we know enouijh to render the mixing up of 

 the two grand divisions of metamorphosis unnatural. 



This Part i consists of a minut-ely detailed introductory portion of nearly 100 



