118 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and the chances of successful estabHshment in England of the 

 occasional, unexpected, and inexplicable moth-inaniigrant. Curiously 

 enough, of the ten Plusiidae which figure in the Catalogue, Plusia 

 moneta (a recent colonist with us) is not to be found ; though 

 P. ni, which we have watched ovipositing on the rhododendrons 

 of the Hautes-Pyrenees, reaches the valley of the Loire (the food- 

 plants given here are nettle and reseda) ; so that the former, may 

 be, found its way to us from the south-east. But in the short space 

 at our disposal it is, of course, impossible to do more than draw 

 attention to a single typical instance. Let me, however, recommend 

 a close study of this admirable Catalogue to all lepidopterists working 

 at home, and the addition of a copy of it to the travelling library of 

 any who are contemplating a spring or summer tour in Western 

 France. I may add that the volume on the Micros is in an advanced 

 stage of preparation, and will be published shortly. 



H. Rowland-Brown. 



The Dictionary of Entomology. By N. K. Jardine, F.E.S. London : 

 West, Newman & Co. 6s. 



The title of this well-printed book is what catches the eye ; it is 

 presumptuous, and presumption pays, as a rule, nowadays — we hope 

 this book will. For it is a good book ; and contains, we have no 

 hesitation in saying (not being presumptuous), a great deal we did 

 not know. The author is a Classic rather than an Entomologist, 

 and gives us the true meaning of the words rather than that in 

 which they are now used in our somewhat slipshod descriptions. 

 For, in reality, this is a Dictionary of [the classical meaning of 

 tlie descriptive terms used in] Entomology, though we cannot 

 always bow to that given ; e.g., the anal angle of the wing is 

 that " between the dorsum and the tergum " (the last word is, 

 perhaps, a lapsus calami for " termen "), &c. That its 258 pages 

 contain most of the terms in general use is proved by testing 

 it by the Febi-uary number of the ' Entomologist,' in which there 

 are but four descriptive terms not there given, one of which 

 (callipers) is a bad oversight. The book is worth its price. — C. M. 



Eugenio Bignano upon the Inheritance of Acquired Characters. 

 Authorized English Translation by Basil C. H. Harvey. 

 Chicago: The Open Court PubHshing Co. 1911. 



This book deals with some of the deepest and most interesting of 

 biological problems, considered from the point of view of one who is 

 not only " a student of Biology," but " has the training of an 

 engineer and physicist," as the translator in his preface tells us. 



The author "offers an explanation on a physical basis of assimila- 

 tion, cell division, and the biogenetic law of recapitulation in ontogeny, 

 and he suggests a mechanism whereby the inheritance of acquired 

 characters may be effected," He brings under review a number of 



