NEW WORKS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 17-J 



In the second place, it is a valuable and philosophical work 

 written in a suggestive spirit; the bulk of the work being occupied 

 by a consideration of the extent to which species undergo variation 

 " from climatal causes generally," — " from temporary heat or cold 

 of an unusual degree,"—" from the nature of the country and of 

 the soil,"— and " from isolation and exposure to a stormy atmo- 

 sphere." Individual examples that have come under Mr. Wollas- 

 ton's own observation are given of the effect of these different 

 influences, and nothing is dogmatically stated. The reader is al- 

 lowed to deduce his own inferences from the facts brought under 

 his notice. 



In the third place this work is remarkable for having escaped the 

 notice of the " Athena?um:" week after week have we glanced 

 through the pages of that journal, but hitherto we have failed to 

 light on an article on Wollaston ' On the Variation of Species.' 

 Of course we are led to speculate on the cause of this omission, and 

 the only conclusion we have come to is, that the party who reviews 

 Entomological books for the Athenaeum (apparently a harmless, 

 well-meaning individual, not overstocked with brains) found the 

 book too deep for him ; he could not understand it, so solved the 

 Gordian knot by not saying a word about it. We know not 

 whether it was entrusted to the same party to review who had 

 noticed in 185-4 the ' Insecta Maderensia, but that book hud 

 plates, and therefore appealed more vividly to the senses, and the 

 plates, if we remember rightly, were more highly praised than the 

 rest of the book— we presume because they were more within the 

 capacity of the reviewer. We hope in saying this we are not 

 " treading on the corns" of any of our friends, but even if that 

 should be the case, we cannot unsay it— excess of politeness is not 

 our weak point. 



A MANUAL OF BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND 

 MOTHS. By H. T. Stainton. In threepenny month/// 

 numbers of 24 pages. \2mo. Illustrated with wood-cuts. 

 Nos. 1 — 10. (l y o be completed in about 30 numbers.) 



London : John Van Voorst. 



The object of this book is to serve as a first book for collectors 

 ol Lcpidoptera ; it is intended to teach them to read descriptions of 

 species with the view of naming their specimens. Hitherto not one 

 collector in a hundred lias ever attempted this. The fault rested 

 not entirely with the collector, because many of the published de- 

 scriptions were unserviceable. A few wood-cuts are given in " the 



