32 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Victorian Butterflies, and How to Collect Them. Part II. 

 By E. Anderson and F. Spry. Melbourne, 1894. Price 3s. 



We are now in receipt of the second and concluding part of 

 the above work, which fully bears out the remarks bestowed upon 

 it in a brief review in the Victorian Naturalist, vol. ix., p. 186. 

 The part under notice comprises the families Lycaenidse and 

 Hesperidse, and extends to 50 pages. These families are without 

 doubt the most difficult of the Rhopalocera to deal with, and the 

 authors are to be congratulated upon the excellent way in which 

 they have popularly described the 47 species enumerated. Owing 

 to revision of the synonyms, and naming one or two previously 

 unnamed species, this, the latest list of Victorian butterflies, is 

 somewhat different to that given in the Victorian Naturalist, vol. 

 ix., p. 121. Notes of the larva;, food-plants, and habits are given, 

 and illustrations of nearly every species are given, in many cases 

 with both sexes and a view of the underside and of the larva, 

 and altogether the work will do much to clear up the uncertainties 

 of position, &c, which have existed for so long respecting these 

 small but exceedingly beautiful insects. 



Those lepidopterists who have not already secured the first part 

 can now obtain the complete work at the reduced price of five 

 shillings, or in cloth for one shilling more. 



We trust there will be a good demand for the work, and so to 

 some extent recoup the authors for the necessary expense con- 

 sequent on bringing out a work of this description, which we hope 

 will find a place in the library of every town in the colony, so as 

 to tend to foster a love for the natural history of our own country. 



The trustees of the Melbourne Exhibition Building have 

 recently issued an excellent guide to the contents of the aquarium, 

 museum collections, and picture galleries under their charge. The 

 portion devoted to the aquarium, some 60 pages, is very fully 

 illustrated with drawings of the inhabitants of the tanks, and con- 

 tains descriptive notes of their habits, &c. The handbook has 

 been compiled by Mr. Jas. E. Sherrard, the secretary to the 

 trustees. 



Another useful little handbook, relating to the botany of 

 Victoria, is " An Illustrated Description of Thistles, &c, included 

 within the Provisions of the Thistle Act, 1890," issued by the 

 Department of Agriculture, Victoria. It contains descriptions of 

 nine species of thistles, or allied plants, with a coloured plate of 

 each species, giving botanical details. Copies of this publication 

 can be had by farmers and others interested on application to the 

 Department. 



