reviews and notices of books. 155 



Butterflies observed to be more or less mutilated on the 

 ROAD between Haldumulle, 4,000 ft., and Pelmadulle, 800 FT., 

 from 27. XII. 10 TO 30. XII. 10. — Letke nilgiriemh, badly; Precis 

 lemonias, h?i^\y ; P. nritlti/ia: P. iphita: Parfhenns cijaneiis; Teriaa 

 silhetana ; Hiipnl'oiinns holina, $ , found a forewing of this species on 

 the ground, and a Paradise fly-catcher was not far off. Though I 

 kept a sharp lookout, I did not see a single capture of a butterfly by 

 a bird, though Drongos were numerous ; there were a few Paradise 

 fly-catchers and about half-a-dozen Philippine bee-eaters. These 

 latter were very partial to the telegraph wires, where they passed 

 across the paddy fields, and though butterflies, Catopsilia especially, 

 were congregated in crowds at frequent intervals, the birds took no 

 notice of them, but hawked flies over the marshes in preference. — N. 

 Manders (Lieut.-Col., R.A.M.C, F.E.S.), The Curragh, Co. Kildare. 



;g^EYIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Wytsman : Genera Insectorum. — Fascicule Dermaptera. By 

 Malcolm Burr, D.Sc. — This epoch-making work continues to make 

 steady progress, the various sections being produced with the aid of 

 the best present day authorities on each, and in addition artists of the 

 first rank in depicting natural histery character are employed to 

 illustrate the text. 



The latest fascicule deals with the Dermaptera, and the author is 

 Dr. Malcolm Burr. It is well known that Dr. Burr takes the keenest 

 interest in this particular group and has been for many years engaged 

 upon a monographic revision of the Earwigs of the world, and°at 

 frequent intervals numerous small instalments have appeared from 

 his pen in various English and Continental publications. 



Earwigs have never been a popular group with Entomologists, 

 possibly owing to the poverty of material generally obtainable, so that 

 Dr. Burr has had practically an open field, and has consequently made 

 the study of this group particularly his own. 



Last year, he gave us a very detailed account of the Earwigs of 

 India in the Fauna of British India series, in which we find a 

 suggestion of the new scheme of classification, which is elaborated in 

 this fascicule. The progress in our knowledge of the group especially 

 during the last ten years is truly remarkable. In 1869, Dohrn knew 

 19 genera and 156 species; in 1900, 31 years later, de Bormans 

 described 323 species distributed through 32 genera, while in 1911, 

 Burr gives us no less than 706 species, distributed through 132 genera,' 

 the majority of which are erected by himself. 



Few other authors have ventured in the field. Borelli, a most 

 careful worker, with a fine knowledge of the group, has chiefiy 

 confined himself to faunistic papers and the description of numerous 

 species. Semenoff, a most talented Eussian entomologist, whose 

 works are too little appreciated in this country, has scarcely ventured 

 beyond the limits of the fauna of the Russian Empire. Two 

 German authors, however, have made notable contributions. In 

 1901-2 Yerhoeff issued a few papers which startled his limited public 

 by the originality of his methods and his views. The really sound 

 and valuable part of his work was eclipsed by his neglect of the 

 elenientary principles of systematic entomologv, and it was left to 

 Zacher in 1910-11 to amplify it and carry it towards a logical con- 



