300 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



can render material aid in reporting the abundance of pests, especially 

 those hkely to be injurious a little farther north. Warnings of this 

 nature, particularly if distributed to entomologists who could investi- 

 gate local conditions and appraise possibilities, would be of immense 

 service in preventing extensive injuries. The staple crops should re- 

 ceive special attention in a serious effort to forecast, and so far as pos- 

 sible forestall, insect depredations. The economic entomologist is 

 called upon all too frequently after the remedial stage has passed. 

 Here is an opportunity, which may not come again for a generation or 

 more, to make more general a system of intelligent prognosis which 

 would result in adoption of preventive rather than remedial measures. 



Reviews 



Guide to the Insects of Connecticut, Part III. The Hymenoptera or 

 Wasp-Like Insects of Connecticut. By H. L. Viereck and 

 OTHERS. Bulletin 22, State Geological and Natural History Sur- 

 vey. (George S. Godard, State Librarian, Hartford, Conn. $2.00.) 



This work of 824 pages and 10 plates is the only general presentation of the Hymen- 

 optera as a group, which has appeared for many years in this comitry, and though 

 restricted to a single state will nevertheless be of wide appUcation, as in Connecticut 

 the Transition and Upper Austral areas both occur. 



Prepared by Mr. H. L. Viereck with the collaboration of such entomologists as A. 

 D. MacGillivray, C. T. Brues, W. M. Wheeler and S. A. Rohwer, the work represents 

 all the recent progress in our systematic knowledge of this order, in fact to a somewhat 

 discouraging degree for those who look for the genera Pimpla, Bombus and many of 

 the other old "standbys" in vain. Progress in this line, however, must probably be 

 through a seemingly chaotic period, and the sooner this comes and has been traversed, 

 the better. 



Keys from the superfamiHes all the way to the species are provided, together with 

 data as to dates and places of capture in the state, food or host, and occasionally 

 other items are given. In addition, species not as yet actually taken in the state but 

 probably present there are included. New species are described, making the book 

 not only a hst and key but a necessary place of reference for original descriptions, some 

 of which, unfortunately, are extremely brief. 



Minor errors are too numerous in the book, and to distinguish half a dozen species 

 in an analytical key by differences in length of body of one millimeter in a total length 

 of from eight to twenty miUimeters is at least doubtful, but the value of the book as a 

 whole is such that many errors can easUy be forgiven, bearing in mind the amount of 

 grovmd it was necessary to cover. The plates are excellent in their way. {Advt.). 



H. T. F. 



