142 [November, 
the fact that the present volume ends at page 798 ; and yet we fancy that the 
notices of works and papers are more condensed here than in the first volume. 
Many of the long tables, &c., are advantageously omitted ; for the aim of this work 
is not to enter into details of differential characters, but to show the student of any 
branch of Zoology what has been done and where to find it ; for the rest he must of 
necessity refer to the papers themselves. Some slight changes in the editorship 
of some divisions have been made since last year ; but the Tnsecta are still recorded 
by Mr. Dallas. This section of the work alone extends to 330 pages, against 270 
last year. The cost of compiling and printing such a record must of necessity be 
very considerable, and we sincerely trust that the enterprising publisher may meet 
with such a return as to render its continuation in fiiture years a certainty. To 
the zoological worker in any class this Record is indispensable. With the assistance 
of it, and Hagen's " Bibliotheca Entomologica," no describing entomologist can 
pardonably be ignorant of what has been done in his particular branch of study, 
excepting so far as regards publications of almost simultaneous appearance. We 
think it worthy of consideration as to whether it would not be more advantageous 
to all parties if it were published in two or more separate divisions. 
We remark that some of the notices bear more of the character of critical 
reviews than of simple records ; this we think out of place. No doubt the tempta- 
tion is very strong for the recorder, when he has to notice works treating on his 
own particular group, and perhaps antagonistic to his own views, to express an 
opinion thereon ; but we submit that there are other channels for this purpose, and 
that this work should be a Record, as its name implies, and nothing more ; space 
would also be saved by this means. 
British Bees : an introduction to the studv of the Natural History and 
Economy of the Bees indigenous to the British Islks. By W. E. Shuckard. 
Lovell Reeve & Co. ; 1866. 
This volume is the second hitherto published of a proposed series of inti-o- 
ductory hand-books upon British Insects (and which series extends, also, to other 
classes besides the Insecta) originated by the late Mr. Lovell Reeve, and intended 
to be carried on by the present firm of Reeve and Co., who certainly deserve the 
highest commendation for the care bestowed upon their work ; inasmuch as the 
minor details of printing, paper, and general method of treatment, added to the 
quantity of matter and the very low price, render the two volumes that have 
as yet appeared superior in those respects to any others pubHshed on the same 
subjects in this country. Both this volume and its predecessor (" British Beetles ;" 
written, — as will have been observed in our advertising columns, — by one of the 
conductors of this Journal) contain numerous well-engraved wood-drawings of dis- 
sections, &c., and no less than sixteen coloured steel plates of six figures each (thus 
figuring nearly one hundred typical species), executed by Mr. E. W. Robinson with 
all his usual elegance, aided by considerable " character" as to facies. 
A work on Hymenoptera, and especially on such a tribe of that order as the 
Anthophila, written by Mr. Shuckard (whose essay on the Fossores has taken such 
a deservedly high and permanent rank in the literature of Entomology), could not 
fail to contain a vast quantity of interesting matter treated in a readable way : the 
