^^J;^'] Book Notices. 95 



pages and contains 888 entries. A systematic index of 

 4 pages gives all the species, sub-species, and forms, the former 

 amounting to 332, while the sub-species and forms number 

 about 200, of which one-fourth are new. It is a pity that in 

 such a mass of names the families and genera were not printed 

 in more distinctive type. A number of new genera have been 

 introduced ; thus, our well-known Xenicas are now arranged 

 under the genera Argynnina, Oreixenica, and Xenica. Another 

 feature is the introduction of trinomials — perhaps in these days 

 of minute specialization unavoidable ; thus Xenica lathoniella 

 becomes Oreixenica lathoniella lathoniella, with three other new • 

 sub-species, 0. I. herceus, 0. I. laranda, and 0. I. latialis, while 

 our familiar "Painted Lady" must now be labelled Pyrameis 

 cardtii kershawi. Considerable attention has been paid to the 

 grouping of the " skippers," a family which has hitherto been 

 scantily treated by most writers. More especiedly for the 

 benefit of readers in other parts of the world, the work is pro- 

 vided with a good key map of Australia, on which all the 

 localities mentioned throughout the volume will be found, 

 while, in order to save space, the months in which the various 

 species appear are indicated by figures instead of words. So 

 much space is occupied with the detailed descriptions of the 

 individual insects that it has not been possible to give much 

 information about the earlier stages of each species ; these 

 details are therefore generalized under each family. The 

 feature of the work, however, is the magnificent series of plates. 

 Most of these are the result of photographs of the specimens, 

 and the process work is so good that one can easily see the 

 gradations in colour in the various species — in fact, in many 

 cases, if one were to imagine the printing to be brown instead 

 of black, he would see the insect in its true colours. The 

 coloured plates, four in number, are especially good. One of 

 them is devoted to Tisiphone Joanna, Butler, and its variations, 

 from Port Macquarie, an insect closely allied to that so long 

 known as Epinephile abeona, the handsome black and brown 

 species of our mountain ranges, which, however, must now be 

 known as T. abeona albifascia, Waterhouse, T. abeona abeona 

 being confined to New South Wales. The others depict some 

 of the smaller and lesser known " browns," " blues," and 

 " skippers." In addition to the systematic portion of the 

 volume, much valuable information is given as to previous 

 works on Australian butterflies, the anatomy of the group, 

 typical larvae and pupae, collecting and preserving, thus 

 making it a very valuable addition to the works on Australian 

 natural history. While references are given to the original 

 description of each species, it is a pity, where so many changes 

 of names have been made, that little reference has been made 



