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jlcuinu. 



" The Moths of the British Isles : " by RicnAKD South, F.E.S. First 

 Series, comprising the Families Sphingidse to Noctuidse. London : F. Warne and 

 Co. 1907. 



In the present volume Mr. South, following on his useful and highly successful 

 work on our British Butterflies in the " Wayside and Woodland Series," gives us a 

 further instalment of his history of our indigenous Lepidoptera. The ground 

 covered in this little book is very extensive, as no fewer than 335 species of moths, 

 belonging to twelve recognised families, are dealt with in about the same number of 

 pages. Much less space is thus available for each species than was the case in the 

 author's " Butterflies," but the work is written on the same lines as its predecessor, 

 and the information conveyed, if somewhat condensed, is throughout sound and 

 reliable. The sequence of families, genera and species is a slight modification of 

 that of Staudinger's "Catalog," of 1901, the families Cymbidx and Arctiidse imme- 

 diately preceding the Noctuidw instead of following the Oeometridse. 



As in the "Butterflies," the plates form the chief feature of the book, and it 

 may be at once said that the 650 coloured figures, with but few exceptions, fully 

 maintain the high standard set by that work. If in some of the plates taken direct 

 by the three-colour process from the insects themselves the complicated markings of 

 the Noctuse, &c, are not quite as clearly defined as in those from the beautiful 

 drawings by Mr. Horace Knight, the texture of these insects is as a rule admirably 

 reproduced. We would call especial attention to the beautiful (slightly reduced) 

 figure of Avherontla atropos on plate 8 ; and the suggestion of translucency in the 

 figures of such insects as Notodonta trepida, Odontosia carmelita, and in particular 

 Saturnia carpini, is very pleasing. A few species, especially those in which green is 

 the prevailing tint, notably Diphthera orion, can on the other hand be hardly said to 

 be adequately represented as to colour. The early stages of nearly every species are 

 excellently figured in black-and-white, space and bulk being saved by printing on 

 both sides of the plates. As in Mr. South's previous volume, we should very much 

 have preferred that the scientific names used in the text (with references to their 

 authors added), had been appended to the plates, instead of the so-called " English " 

 designations; some of these, as the "Cream-Bordered Green Pea" and the still 

 more egregious " Setaceous Hebrew Character " had, we thought, long been con- 

 signed to the limbo of things forgotten. Apart from this detail (which we may hope 

 to see altered in succeeding volumes) we have much pleasure in confidently recom- 

 mending this little book to every one already interested in our moths, or desirous of 

 knowing something about them. 



(Dbttuarn. 



Nicholas Frank Dobrte. — On January 8th last, at the advanced age of 

 seventy-seven, passed away Mr. N. F. Dobrec, of Beverley. Years ago Mr. Dobro"e 

 was known throughout Britain as an ardent student of the Noctux, the special 

 liking for which he probably acquired from his friend, the late Mr. George Norman, 

 who, prior to his death in 1881, was a regular contributor to the pages of this 

 Journal. Both were fascinated by the Nochix, to the exclusion of the other Orders 



