1880.] 119 



pounded : " Has the Jura range a peculiar Lepidopterous Fauna ?" and " Have 

 Lepidoptera, which were originally alpine, in descending to lower elevations under- 

 gone modifications, transforming them to other species ?" 



Instances are given which would seem to answer the latter question affirmatively ; 

 but, just as the reader is charmed with the field of speculative thought he is entering, 

 the Professor abruptly closes the subject : " Here we quit the enticing field of hypo- 

 thesis. We turn to the more sober facts. We bring forth our Catalogue." 



The following note to Melitcea Dictynna, at p. 29, will not be without interest 

 to many of our readers : 



" The Melitcea, which begin with Dictynna, belong to one of the most difficult 

 sections of Lepidooterology. In the year 1878 I again devoted to it much time and 

 labour. Through the kind aid of my friends and correspondents, Messrs. A. Schmid 

 of Ratisbon, B. Moschler and J. Schilde of Bautzen, L. Caflisch of Chur, W. M. 

 Schoyen of Christiania, and others, with Staudinger's friendly assistance, I had before 

 me for comparison and examination upwards of 300 specimens from the most 

 varied localities. According to my opinion, only one species is sharply separated, 

 namely, the old primary M. Asteria, Frr., belonging to the glacial epoch. From it 

 next proceeded M. varia, Bi., which developed into Parthenie, H.-S. From the 

 same alpine type M. Aurelia, Nickerl, is likewise derived. Both (varia and Par- 

 thenie) pass into the long-known M. Atlialia, and, judging at least from northern 

 specimens, there is no sharp demarcation between Athalia and Dictynna. I possess 

 intermediate Swiss specimens. Between Athalia on the one hand and Parthenie 

 and Aurelia on the other hand, with Schoyen's great mass of interesting material 

 from Christiania and the Dovref jeld, our usual differential characters founded on 

 German specimens are left more or less in the lurch. In the meanwhile, in accordance 

 with the usual system, I adopt the habitual list of species." 



Zoological Classification : a handy book of reference, with tables of the 

 Sub-Kingdoms, Classes, Orders, &c, of the Animal Kingdom, their characters and 

 lists of the Families and principal Genera : by Francis P. Pascoe, F.L.S., &c. 

 Royal 18mo, pp. 328, second edition. London : John Yan "Voorst, 1880. 



At p. 258 of Vol. xiii of this Magazine, we had occasion to notice the first 

 edition of this work, and to point out how really useful it would prove as " a handy 

 book of reference," a recommendation since abundantly justified by our own experience. 

 The welcome with which the first edition was received, and the rapid advancement of 

 Zoological science, have prompted the author to slightly re-model the first edition, and 

 to bring out a second, in a much enlarged form, in which is shown how closely 

 he has kept himself au courant with the literature of the subject, although there 

 is too much evidence of inclination to follow one or two authors who, however 

 eminent they may be in their special subjects, can have but little knowledge 

 of the whole. Touching the Insecta, for to these our remarks must (as on a 

 former occasion) be confined, we in some respects prefer the arrangement adopted 

 in the first edition. We know not what induced the author to revert to the 

 old intimate association of the true lice with the bird-lice, and in this respect 

 consider his former ideas much to be preferred. We could object to other points 

 in sequential and ordinal position ; but we are fully alive to the multitudes 



