i6 Book Notice. [voT'kxxlii. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



The World of Little Lives. By Gladys H. Froggatt 

 (" Millie-Millie "). Sydney : W. Brooks and Co. Ltd. 

 1916. 169 pp. (4 X 6), with 15 full plates and 35 text 

 blocks. 3s. 6d. 

 This little volume, which is written in the conversational 

 style, will be found very useful by teachers of nature study, 

 dealing as it does with forms of life we see around us almost 

 every day. Miss Froggatt has chosen typical insects of the 

 bush, and told their lives in a very pleasant and instructive 

 manner. Thus she tells of the emergence of a Gum Emperor 

 Moth, familiarly called a bush silkworm : — " The folded wings 

 strove to break the walls ; but not in vain, frantic fiutterings 

 did they beat, those wings of the softest velvet. Gently he 

 rubbed the edge of each precious fore wing against the dome of 

 his weather-hardened prison. Ah, yes ! A little sharp blade 

 was ready, though hidden 'neath the felt of the scales. The 

 Great Sculptor had not forgotten. He had foreseen his need. 

 Slit, slit, slit went the tiny, keen blades at the palace roof, 

 while sunbeams loitered without in a land of starry blossoms. 

 The threads gave way. The mesh was rent. Out peeped Big 

 Brother's bright-eyed little head, feathery feelers aquiver with 

 delight and awe. Slowly the soft body and crumpled wings 

 drew clear. Trembling, ecstatic, he rested on the roof of his 

 deserted home. What a world of glory was this ! Was ever 

 a fairyland so lovely ? " 



In twenty-four chapters are given the life -histories of one 

 or more representatives of each order of insects, each being 

 well illustrated. It would have been better, perhaps, to have 

 given some reference in several instances to the actual size of 

 the insects. Thus, in the chapter on the house-fly is an illus- 

 tration of a hover-fly, fully five or six times the natural size, 

 without a word of explanation. Each chapter concludes with 

 a brief tabular statement of the insect dealt with — i.e., 

 " Order, Diptera. Family, Muscidae. Musca domestica. Length, 

 J-inch. Habitat, world-wide." An introductory chapter, 

 " Just Insects," gives a general glance at the main features of 

 an insect and its life-history, while a concluding chapter, ** How 

 to Learn about Them," gives some details as to collecting and 

 preserving specimens. The full-page plates generally give all 

 the stages of the insect figured, while a number of bush-scene 

 photographs are introduced to give an idea of the kind of 

 country where the insect may be found. To give interest to 

 the romance of insect lives was Miss Froggatt' s aim, and we 

 think she has succeeded admirably in her diflicult task, seeing 

 that in Australia there are no traditions or fairy tales attached 

 to our fauna or flora. 



