December, '16] REVIEW 57S 



and if this is impractical, as appears to be the case, could the Asso- 

 ciation of Economic Entomologists undertake a more useful and appro- 

 priate work than providing for the preparation and early publication 

 of comprehensive indexes to the rapidly increasing and widely scat- 

 tered literature of American Economic Entomology? 



Review 



Rhynchophora or Weevils of North Eastern America, by W. S. 

 Blatchley and C. W. Leng. The Nature Publishing Com- 

 pany, Indianapohs, 1916, pp. 1-682, figs. 154. 



Another beetle book has made its appearance, being a supplement to Professor 

 Blatchley's Coleoptera or Beetles of Indiana which was published in 1910. It is 

 not restricted to Indiana, however, but covers, as indicated by the title, the entire 

 eastern portion of the United States and Canada. Much attention has been given 

 to the Rhynchophora, and many new genera and species have been described since 

 the work published by LeConte and Horn in 1876, which is not only out of date but 

 out of print and the present publication brings the classification to the present. The 

 primary object of the authors is to furnish a standard work on the Coleoptera for 

 the student which will enable him to classify and identify weevils. While the work 

 is necessarily technical, many matters relating to synonymy and other more strictly 

 technical matter have been omitted, and the work has been simplified to meet these 

 requirements. Synopses of families, genera, species and other subdivisions form an 

 important portion of this work, and where these synopses are sufficient for identifi- 

 cation detailed technical descriptions are omitted. Other valuable features of the 

 publication are notes on distribution and food habits, the latter particularly being 

 credited to authoritative observers and specialists. A distinct departure from other 

 works of this nature consists in longer accounts of species of economic importance, 

 with summarized life-histories, and indications of the principal methods of control. 

 The authors have had the advantage of cooperation on the part of many specialists, 

 which also adds much to the value of the work. The same is true of the explanation 

 of structm-es used in the classification of this group. Four families are represented; 

 Brenthidse, Anthribida;, Curculionidte, and Scolytida?. The work will be needed 

 by all students of Coleoptera, by experiment station and other practical workers, 

 and those engaged in teaching entomology. The authors deserve great credit for 

 their careful painstaking work which has covered, without doubt, the labors of sev- 

 eral years. The volume concludes with an excellent and very complete bibliography, 

 systematic, biologic, and economic; a plant and generic index, as well as one cover- 

 ing the new genera and species described. (Adv't.) 



F. H. Chittenden, Bureau of Entomology, United Slates Department of Agriculture. 



