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19U8 



THE LEPIDOPT 



BOOK REVIEWS 



3, The. Butterflies of the Eastern United 

 States by G. H. French* 



previous to the last decade of the nine- 

 ? -<enth century the North American lepidopter- 

 [«{ had few reference works with which he 

 •ould identify the specimens in his collec- 

 •ion. There were no manuals like Holland's, 

 •;r-,stock's and the many others which we today 

 ■ens ider indispensable. He may have had a co- 

 py of Emmon's Insects of New York , the miser- 

 able plates of which would have helped to i- 

 ie.itify some of the commoner species. Or, he 

 ^ay have had Harris' Insects Injurious to Ve - 

 rotation , the third edition of which contained 

 7 few illustrations of butterflies and moths. 



Prof. French realized the need of a mode- 

 rately priced manual for the identification 

 of our butterflies. For a number of years he 

 -ad been using analytical tables of the but- 

 terflies of Illinois which he had prepared 

 for the use of his classes. Encouraged by 

 the popular demand for these tables he elabo- 

 rated upon them and, with additional material, 

 issued them in book form in 1885 under the ti- 

 '.le"Butterflies of the Eastern United States". 

 The book is a small octavo volume of lj.08 pag- 

 •s containing some 93 text figures of butter- 

 flies or their preparatory stages. The text 

 tegins with a brief account of the anatomy 

 ind metamorphosis of the butterflies. An "ac- 

 centuated list of the butterflies of the Eas- 

 tern United States" shows 201 species recog- 

 rized as occurring within the territory cov- 

 ered. The "Analytical Key for the Determina- 

 tion of the Butterflies of the Eastern United 

 States", which takes up about 25 pages, is 

 followed by a brief account of the butterflies, 

 their varieties and life histories as far as 

 known. This occupies the balance of the book 

 tlth the exception of a brief glossary. 



