22 [June, 



SlcuifUJS. 



The Micrographic Dictionary, 3rd edition, edited by J. W. Griffith, the 

 Eev. M. J. Berkeley, and T. Eupert Jones. London : John Van Voorst. 



At p. 1G7 of vol. viii we had occasion to notice the first two parts of the new 

 edition of this work. The succeeding parts up to pt. vii, commencing the letter C, 

 are now before us. To all of our readers who possess a microscope we heartily re- 

 commend this Dictionary, which is a perfect mine of information on every subject 

 connected with microscopic research, illustrated by many beautifully executed plates 

 of crowded figures, and by wood-cuts without end. The entomological portion is 

 carefully compiled, though perhaps scarcely brought sufficiently down to the present 

 date. The article " Chalcididce,^' selected by us at random, is a good example of the 

 manner in which exceedingly useful information may be condensed into smaU space. 

 Possibly the Bibliographical references are not always so complete as might be de- 

 sired ; but, at any rate, they are sufficient to enable the student to know where to 

 look for more extended information than could possibly be furnished by a Dictionary. 

 In the article " Arachnida " we notice a curious error in bibliography. Among the 

 books quoted is "Walker, British Spiders (Ray Society)." We could readdy have 

 believed that Mr. Walker had written such a. work, but the facts oppose the supposi- 

 tion, and there is evidently no confusion with the elaborate Monograph by Mr. 

 Blackwall, published by the Ray Society, for this is noticed in its proper place ; how 

 the error can have originated is a problem we will not attempt to solve. 



Die Pflanzen Feinde aus der Classe der Insecten. Von J. H. Kal- 

 TENBAcli. I. Abtheilung. Stuttgart : JuLirs Hoffmann. 1872. 



Sixteen years have elapsed since there first appeared in the " Verhaudlungeu des 

 natm-historischen Vereines der preussisehen Rheinlande imd Westphalens " a paper 

 by J. H. Kaltenbach entitled " Die deutschen Phytophagen aus der Klasse der 

 Insekten, oder Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der auf Deutsclilands Pflanzen 

 beobachteten Bewohner und ihrer Feinde," in which, under the successive genera of 

 plants, arranged alphabetically, were enumerated the various insects of all orders by 

 which they were infested. This first paper, extending to 100 pages, treated only of 

 the genera commencing with the letter A ; in 1858 appeared the letter B ; in 1859, C ; 

 in 1860, D, E, F ; in 1862 G, H, J, K, L ; in 1864, M, N, 0, P ; in 1866, Q, R. 



Necessarily, the work is, to a great extent, a compilation ; aiul, as its materials 

 are collected from a variety of sources, all are not equally trustwoi-thy ; but, quite 

 independently of the compilations from other entomological publications, there is a 

 mass of notes from Herr Kaltenbach's o^^ti obseiwatious, and other valuable informa- 

 tion is extracted from the letters he had received from his numerous correspondents. 



The periodical (published at Bonn) in which these j^apers appeared has but a 

 very limited circulation in this country, and hence it has happened that the labours 

 of Herr Kaltenbach had been continued from some time without attracting much 

 attention. Micro-Lepidopterists wdl not easily forget the sensation produced in the 

 year 1861 by the discovery of the larvae of the genus Micropteryx, and by oiu- finding, 

 moreover, that these larvae, which every Micro-Lepidopterist had been throwing away 

 for years, under the idea tliat they were Coleopterous, had actually been described by 

 Kaltenbach, and correctly referred to the genus Micropieryx, under Corylus, which 

 was published in 1859. 



